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LECTURES, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LITERARY HISTORY OF THE BIBLE, 
 
 BY REV. JOEL HA WES ; 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 AS GIVING DIGNITY TO 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, 
 
 BY REV. T. H. GALLAIDET ; 
 AND ON THE 
 
 TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF THE SABBATH, 
 
 BY REV. HORACE HOOKER. 
 
 ORIGINALLY DELIVERED BEFORE THE GOODRICH ASSOCIATION. 
 
 HARTFORD: 
 PUBLISHED BY COOKE AND CO. 
 
 1833. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by Cooke and 
 Co. in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Connecticut. 
 
 P. CANFIELD— PRINTER, 
 HARTFORD. 
 
PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The following Lectures were originally delivered 
 before the Goodrich Association, in this city ; 
 and having been received with marked appro- 
 bation, they are noxo presented to the public, with 
 the consent of the authors. 
 Hartford, May 1, 1833. 
 
LECTURE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LITERARY HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 BY REV, JOEL HA WES. 
 
LECTURE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LITERARY HISTORY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 There lies before me a volume called the Bible ; 
 that is, by way of eminence, the Book. It claims to be 
 of divine origin. Its antiquity is very great. Its con- 
 tents are of the deepest interest ; and it has exerted a 
 more decided influence over the condition of men, than 
 any other, or perhaps all other books united. I know 
 not how I can better perform the part assigned me in 
 sustaining these Lectures, than by presenting an outline 
 of the literary history, present state, and future 
 prospects of this Book. 
 
 We are accustomed to speak of the Bible as one book, 
 and, in a qualified sense, this is true. Its origin, con- 
 sidered as divine, is one ; its doctrine is one ; its rule of 
 life is one, and the object at which it aims is one. At 
 the same time, it consists of a great number of different 
 compositions, written by several persons, at distant 
 periods, in different languages, and on various subjects. 
 
8 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 The Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Bible, 
 is the oldest surviving production of the human mind. 
 It was written by Moses, the inspired lawgiver of Israel, 
 about fifteen hundred years before the Christian era, 
 and nearly six hundred years before Homer and Hesiod, 
 the oldest Greek authors of whom we-have any account. 
 The other books, composing the Old Testament, were 
 written at different intervals, during a period of some- 
 thing more than a thousand years. After this there 
 was a period of about four hundred years, when the 
 spirit of prophecy and of revelation ceased among the 
 Jews, and no additions were made to their sacred books. 
 At the end of this period, the great Teacher, our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, made his appearance on earth ; and hav- 
 ing, by his own ministry, introduced that new dispen- 
 sation, under which it is our privilege to live, he com- 
 missioned his Apostles, first to publish the facts and 
 doctrines of his gospel, orally, and then to transmit 
 them to future generations in the form of a permanent 
 record. That record we have in the pages of the New 
 Testament. It was written at different times and by 
 different authors, during a period of more than sixty 
 years after the resurrection of Christ ; so that the Bible, 
 as we now have it, was being composed nearly sixteen 
 hundred years. 
 
 The books contained in the Old Testament were 
 collected into one volume by Ezra, soon after the Baby- 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 9 
 
 lonish captivity ; and appointed portions of them were 
 statedly read in the synagogues and in the temple, as a 
 part of public worship. That these books, and only 
 these, were received by the ancient Jews as of divine 
 authority, is the concurrent voice of all antiquity. They 
 are often spoken of by Philo and Josephus, as the only 
 accredited sacred writings of their nation. They were 
 received in this character by Christ and his Apostles, 
 who uniformly referred to them as the Scriptures, in 
 distinction from all other writings, and represented them 
 as having been given by inspiration — as being the word 
 of God. 
 
 In respect to the New Testament, we have evidence 
 that the different writings of which it is composed, at 
 least the principal of them, were collected into a volume 
 before the death of the Apostle John. They were 
 translated before the middle of the second century into 
 what is called the Old Syriac version, for the use of the 
 eastern Christians ; and about the same time into Latin 
 for the use of the western Christians. Eusebius, who 
 flourished at the close of the third and beginning of the 
 fourth century, has preserved a full catalogue of the 
 books of the New Testament, and they are the same 
 that are found in our Bibles at the present day. I will 
 simply add, in passing, that the authenticity and genu- 
 ineness of the various books that compose the Bible, are 
 proved by an amount of evidence that can be brought 
 to bear on no other writings of antiquity. 
 
10 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 The books of the Old Testament were written in the 
 Hebrew language. This, by some learned men, has 
 been considered as the oldest, or primitive language 
 of man. It seems more probable, however, that it is 
 only a dialect of an ancient language which was spoken 
 originally in Palestine, Syria, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, 
 Arabia, Ethiopia, and Babylonia.* In the time of our 
 Saviour, the Hebrew, as it existed in the days of Moses 
 and Solomon, was no longer a living language. In 
 consequence of their long exile in Babylon, and their 
 intercourse with surrounding nations, the Jews had lost 
 the use of their original tongue, and had adopted a dia- 
 lect which is usually denominated the Syro-Chaldaic, 
 being formed of a mixture of the Syriac and Chaldaic, 
 with the ancient Hebrew. This was the language spo- 
 ken in Palestine, in the time of our Saviour, and in 
 which he communicated his divine instructions. The 
 books of the New Testament, however, were written in 
 Greek, and for the obvious reason, that this was then a 
 kind of universal language, being spoken and under- 
 stood throughout the Roman empire, and especially in 
 the eastern provinces. For the same reason the Old 
 Testament had been translated into what is called the 
 Greek version of the Seventy, or the Septuagint, two 
 hundred and eighty years before the Christian era. It 
 
 * Carpenter's Lectures on Biblical Criticism. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 11 
 
 was intended particularly for the use of the Jews who 
 resided in foreign countries, and had come to understand 
 the Greek language better than they did their vernacu- 
 lar tongue. 
 
 Before the invention of the art of printing in 1440, 
 the sacred Scriptures, like all other books, were preserv- 
 ed only in manuscript. They were written on parch- 
 ment or vellum prepared from the skins of animals, and 
 usually executed with extreme accuracy and beauty. 
 Some of the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, 
 that have come down to us, are thought to have been 
 written as early as the fifth or sixth century. Of the 
 Hebrew manuscripts, there are none extant that can 
 claim an earlier date than the 12th or 13th century. 
 There is no reason to suppose, however, that the sacred 
 text has, in any material points, been interpolated, or 
 corrupted. From the ancient versions of the Scriptures, 
 from the writings of the fathers, and from a comparison 
 of manuscripts, it has been shown, in the most satisfac- 
 tory manner, by biblical scholars, that our sacred books 
 have been preserved in great purity, and are in all 
 essential matters, what they were when they came from 
 the hands of their authors. In the beginning of the 
 last century great alarm was excited by the vast 
 number of various readings that were discovered by 
 critics, in examining and comparing ancient manu- 
 scripts. Infidels began to triumph at the discovery of 
 
12 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 an argument which they were confident would at once 
 overthrow the authority of the Scriptures ; and even 
 Christians expressed some uneasiness, lest the founda- 
 tions of their faith should be affected, and uncertainty 
 be introduced into the doctrines of the gospel. Dr. 
 Mill discovered 30,000 various readings in the New 
 Testament ; many more have since been discovered, 
 and those that have been found in collating various 
 manuscripts of the Old Testament, have risen to many 
 hundred thousand. But what do these various readings 
 amount to ? In a vast majority of cases to nothing 
 more than whether an i shall be dotted, and a t crossed, 
 or whether you shall spell the word honor, honour, or, or. 
 Not one of a thousand of these various readings affects 
 the sense of the passages where they occur ; and not 
 one of all of them, teaches any doctrine, or states any 
 fact which is not to be found elsewhere in the Bible. 
 It is acknowledged by the very critics by whose indus- 
 try the various readings have been collected, that the 
 sacred text is competently exact, even in the worst 
 manuscript now extant, and that not one article of faith 
 or moral precept is either perverted or lost in it. We 
 may therefore say, with one of the most eminent of 
 critics ;* — w Put the thirty thousand various readings that 
 have been discovered in manuscripts of the New Tes- 
 tament into the hands of a knave or a fool, and make 
 
 * Dr. Bentley. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 13 
 
 them as many more, if numbers of copies can ever be 
 found to reach that sum ; and yet, with the most sinistrous 
 and absurd choice, he shall not extinguish the light of 
 any one chapter, nor so disguise Christianity, but that 
 every feature of it will be the same." At the same time, 
 it is consoling to the Christian mind to know, that while 
 the industry of Biblical scholars has brought to light so 
 great a number of various readings in the sacred text, 
 no one point of doctrine or duty is affected by the dis- 
 covery, and that the result of their labors has been to 
 settle the text on a permanent basis, and to increase 
 our confidence in its general purity and correctness. 
 
 Originally there were no breaks or divisions of the 
 sacred books into chapters and verses, or even into 
 words ; so that a whole line, and even a whole book, as 
 anciently written, was in fact but one continued word. 
 So late as the fourth, and even the fifth century, the 
 New Testament had none of the ordinary marks of 
 distinction, but each book was entire, with no chapters 
 or verses, and no points of punctuation. The invention 
 of our present chapters was by cardinal Hugo, who 
 flourished about the year 1240. 
 
 The method of distinguishing the verses by figures, 
 as is now seen in our Bibles, was introduced into the 
 Old Testament by Athias, a Jew of Amsterdam, who, 
 jn 1661, and 1667, published two very correct editions 
 of the Hebrew Scriptures, having the verses marked in 
 
 2 
 
14 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 this manner. What was thus done for the Old Testa- 
 ment by Athias, was effected for the New by Robert 
 Stephens, a French printer, about the rriiddle of the 
 16th century, during a journey from Paris to Lyons. 
 Such is the origin of the present chapters and verses in 
 our Bibles. That these divisions are of much use, in 
 facilitating reference to the Scriptures, and sometimes 
 also in ascertaining the meaning of a passage, cannot 
 be doubted. But as they were made without any spe- 
 cial reference to the sense, and often in direct opposition 
 to the sense, it is plain, that if we would read the Scrip- 
 tures understand ingly, we must disregard the common 
 distinctions of chapter and verse, and study them as a 
 connected whole. In very many passages, the sense is 
 not only interrupted but destroyed, by the disjoining of 
 what ought to be connected, and connecting what ought 
 to be disjoined. In this way, the chain of reasoning, 
 especially to the common reader, is frequently broken, 
 the sentences mangled, the eye misguided, the attention 
 bewildered, and the meaning lost. It is much to be 
 desired, therefore, that our common Bibles were printed 
 with a continuous or unbroken text, or that they were 
 divided only into sections or chapters, corresponding with 
 the real divisions of subjects, and having the enumera- 
 tion of verses upon the margin. 
 
 Our present English version of the Bible was made 
 in the reign and by authority of James I. Previous to 
 
OP THE BIBLE. 15 
 
 this, however, there had been several versions of the 
 Scriptures into English, by different hands. The first 
 of these, known to be extant, was made by an unknown 
 individual, in the year 1290. About one hundred years 
 after this, John Wiclif, the Apostle of England, and the 
 morning star of the Reformation, translated the entire 
 Bible from the Latin Yulgate into the English language, 
 as then spoken. As an evidence of the extreme diffi- 
 culty of procuring transcripts of the Bible before the 
 invention of printing, and of the high value in which 
 copies were held, it may be mentioned, that in 1429, 
 the price of one of Wiclif's Testaments was about 
 forty pounds sterling, or nearly two hundred dollars of 
 our money. The circulation of Wiclif's Bible among 
 the people, gave great offence to the ruling authorities of 
 the day, and it was condemned to be burnt, as were also 
 many persons for reading it. 
 
 In 1526, the New Testament was translated and 
 published in English, by William Tyndal. This was a 
 crime for which he was condemned to death. He was 
 strangled, and afterwards burned. He expired, praying 
 repeatedly and earnestly, " Lord open the king of Eng- 
 land's eyes." In 1535, a translation of the whole Bible, 
 and the first English one ever printed, and the first also 
 ever allowed by royal authority, was completed under 
 the direction of Miles Coveidale. Through the influ- 
 ence of Archbishop Cranmer, an order was obtained 
 
16 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 from the king " that a book of the whole Bible should 
 be provided and laid in the choir for every man that 
 would to look and read therein." Several other edi- 
 tions of the Scriptures were published during the reigns 
 of Henry VIII. and Edward YL, but all of them were 
 only revised copies of Tyndal and Co verd ale's transla- 
 tion. Passing over these, we come to our present au- 
 thorized version. This, as already stated, was made 
 by order of James I. In 1604, the king nominated 
 fifty-four learned men to re-translate, revise or correct 
 preceding versions, so as to produce as perfect a transla- 
 tion as possible. Of these, only forty-seven actually en- 
 gaged in the work, the others having died, or declined 
 the appointment. They were men of distinguished 
 piety, and profoundly versed in a knowledge of the 
 original languages of the sacred writings. Those who 
 lived to engage in the work were divided into six com- 
 panies. To each company was assigned a particular 
 book or portion of the Bible, which was to be translated 
 by each individual belonging to that division. The 
 book thus finished, was sent to each of the other com- 
 panies, to be again examined ; so that each book passed 
 the scrutiny of all the translators successively. Three 
 entire copies of the Bible, thus translated and revised, 
 were finally submitted to a committee of six, who re- 
 viewed and polished the whole work. Nearly three 
 years were spent in completing the translation ; and 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 17 
 
 from this account of it, it appears that no time or pains 
 were spared to make it perfect. It was puhlished in 
 folio, in 1611, and has ever since been the version in 
 common use. And we have the best reasons, on the 
 whole, for being satisfied with it. Doubtless, with the 
 improvements which have been made in Biblical know- 
 ledge, some corrections might be made in our present 
 translation, and some passages rendered more clearly 
 expressive of the meaning of the original. But take it 
 all in all, our English Bible is a noble monument of the 
 integrity, fidelity and learning of its venerable transla- 
 tors. Their reverence for the Sacred Scriptures induced 
 them to be as literal as they could, to avoid obscurity ; 
 and while they have been extremely happy in the sim- 
 plicity and dignity of their expressions, they have, by 
 their adherence to the Hebrew idiom, at once enriched 
 and adorned our language.* In the words of one 
 
 * " It is remarkable how the translators have been influenced not only by 
 the spirit of the Scriptures, which pervades the whole work, but by their 
 indestructible metre, a metre the more curious and surprising, because it 
 has none of the monotony, which a critic would have pronounced a priori 
 to be inseparable from it. The great excellence of the translation is due 
 to six considerations. First, it was made under a very solemn sense of the 
 important duty, devolved on those who were thus selected. Hence 
 arose that prevailing air of dignity, gravity, simplicity, which is so con- 
 spicuous. Secondly, the translators came to the task, looking to the 
 thoughts, not to the style. Their object was not that of all other translators, 
 to imitate and rival the beauty of style. Their sole object was to render 
 faithfully, and in a plain appropriate style, the thoughts of the sacred wri- 
 
 2* 
 
18 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 who was every way competent to judge in this case ; 
 " The translators have seized the very spirit and soul 
 of the original, and expressed this almost every where 
 with pathos and energy. They have not only made a 
 standard translation, but they have made their trans- 
 lation the standard of our language. The English 
 tongue in their day was not equal to such a work. But 
 God enabled them to stand as upon Mount Sinai, and 
 
 lers. Hence, they became thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the original ; 
 and gave an incomparably better version of the Hebrew and Greek Testa- 
 ments, than any or all of them together could have done of any classic. 
 Had each of them left us translations of some classic, I hesitate not to say, 
 they would not now have been found in any library, but as mere curiosi- 
 ties. Thirdly, the number of persons employed contributed very much to 
 prevent any personal style from prevailing ; and gave to the whole an air 
 of plain, simple uniformity. Fourthly, the sera was providential in one im- 
 portant view. As the translation was made before all the bitterness of 
 sectarian spirit distracted the English Protestant Church, it was executed 
 far less with a view to party differences, than could have been the case, at 
 any time afterwards. Fifthly, fortunately the only great religious differ- 
 ence, that could have affected it, was the dispute with the Catholic Church, 
 and as to that, all Protestants were agreed in England, on every important 
 point. Sixthly, the English language was then at the happiest stage of 
 its progress, with all the strength, simplicity, and clearness of the Elder 
 Literature ; whilst, at the same time, it was free from the cant of the age of 
 Charles I. and Cromwell, from the vulgarity and levity of that of Charles 
 II., and from the artificial character of that of Anne. 
 
 " Such a translation is an illustrious monument of the age, the nation, and 
 the language. It is, properly speaking, less a translation than an original ; 
 having most of the merit of the former as to style, and all the merit of the 
 latter as to thought. It is the noblest, best, most finished classic of the 
 English tongue." — Grimke's Oration before the $ B K Society. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 19 
 
 crane up their country's language to the dignity of the 
 original, so that after the lapse of two hundred years, 
 the English Bible is, with very few exceptions, the 
 standard of the purity and excellence of the English 
 tongue. The original from which it was taken is alone 
 superior to the Bible translated by the authority of King 
 James."* 
 
 To this book we are much more deeply indebted than 
 we are apt to acknowledge. Its blessings, like the air 
 that sustains, or the light that cheers us, are falling 
 around us in such silent, yet profuse and constant abun- 
 dance, that we are not a little exposed to forget the 
 source of them, and to cease to feel our obligations to the 
 Author of all good on account of them. Persons unac- 
 customed to reflect on the subject, are not at all aware 
 for how large a part of the most interesting and impor- 
 tant knowledge we possess, we are indebted to the Bible. 
 Without the Bible, we should know nothing of the ori- 
 gin of the world, nor of its history for more than three 
 thousand years. We should know nothing of the origin 
 of man, nor of his ultimate destiny. We should know 
 nothing of the true character of the great Being who 
 made and governs the world ; nothing of the nature 
 and design of his government over us ; nor of the ten- 
 dency of the various dispensations under which we are 
 appointed to live ; nor, in short, of any thing which 
 
 * Dr. Adam Clarke. 
 
20 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 relates to our spiritual and immortal part, and the scenes 
 that await us beyond this transient state of being. If I 
 am asked for proof of this, I point to the actual condi- 
 tion of three fourths of the human family, who are with- 
 out the Bible. What is the present state of all those 
 nations that enjoy not the light of Revelation, and what 
 has it been from time immemorial ? Enveloped in 
 profound darkness on all the subjects that have just 
 been enumerated. And I know of no reason why we 
 are not in the same state, except that we have had the 
 Bible in our hands, and have been taught to read and 
 understand its sublime discoveries. It cannot certainly 
 be pretended that we, or that the dwellers in Christian 
 lands, are more richly gifted with intellect and genius, 
 than are the inhabitants of heathen countries, or than 
 were the philosophers and sages of ancient Greece and 
 Rome. And yet it may truly be said, that a child 
 eight years old in a Sabbath school, has a better know- 
 ledge of God and the soul, and of the origin, duties and 
 prospects of man, than the best instructed among the 
 nations of paganism. Nor can it be denied, that the 
 men in Christian lands, who at different times, have 
 risen up to discard revelation, and contended for the 
 sufficiency of reason, have owed all their superiority 
 over the poor heathen, in moral and religious know- 
 ledge, to that very light which they labored to extin- 
 guish. Not to mention others, there are especially 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 21 
 
 three great truths, for the knowledge of which we are 
 wholly indebted to the Bible. 
 
 1. The first is the existence of one all perfect God, 
 the creator, sovereign, and judge of the world. That 
 the knowledge of this truth has been preserved among 
 men by the Bible, and only by the Bible, is evident 
 from the fact, that wherever men have been without the 
 Bible, they have universally become polytheists and 
 idolators. An exception is not known either among 
 savage or civilized nations. 
 
 2. The immortality of the soul. This truth was 
 indeed known to some extent, among the nations that 
 had no knowledge of the Scriptures. But it was mixed 
 with much error, and clouded in great darkness and 
 doubt. Cicero, who was incomparably the ablest de- 
 fender of the soul's immortality, of which the heathen 
 world can boast, very ingenuously confesses, that, not- 
 withstanding all his arguments to confirm the doctrine in 
 question, his mind was satisfied of it, only when directly 
 employed in contemplating the arguments adduced in 
 its favor. At all other times he fell, unconsciously, into 
 a state of doubt and darkness. And Socrates, while he 
 had some glimmerings of this great truth, and some- 
 times spoke of it with much feeling and eloquence, yet 
 shortly before his death, expressed himself extremely 
 doubtful respecting it, and said to his friends, that 
 though he should be mistaken, he should at least gain 
 
22 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 this much, that the expectation of it made him less un- 
 easy while he lived, and his error would die with him ; 
 and he concludes in the following terms : " I am going 
 out of the world, and you are to continue in it ; but 
 which of us has the better part, is a secret to every 
 one but God." 
 
 For certainty, then, respecting this great truth, we 
 can look nowhere but to the Bible. There life and 
 immortality are fully brought to light ; especially so in 
 the gospel ; and man, frail and perishable man, may 
 lopk with calmness to the end of his mortal course, and 
 console himself in the hope that he is to survive all the 
 changes of time and live forever. 
 
 It is indeed the opinion of some, and the sentiment 
 is becoming rather popular with a certain class of per- 
 sons at the present day, that the Old Testament gives 
 no intimations of a future state of existence, and that the 
 Jews, before our Saviour's time, had no knowledge of 
 the immortality of the soul. It is a little remarkable, 
 at the same time, that these very persons are accus- 
 tomed to speak of the doctrine of a future state as gene- 
 rally understood and believed among the heathen ; 
 thus representing the Jews, God's chosen people, and 
 favored with the light of Revelation, as more profoundly 
 ignorant of the soul's immortality, than their heathen 
 neighbors. This is not the time nor the place to discuss 
 this subject. But it seems passing strange, that any 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 23 
 
 one, who has ever read the sacred Scriptures, should 
 adopt such a notion. It may be admitted, and the 
 reasons of it could easily be assigned, that under the 
 Mosaic theocracy, the doctrine of rewards and punish- 
 ments was in a great measure confined to temporal 
 good and evil. But will it hence follow that the Jews 
 had no knowledge of a future state ; or that the sanc- 
 tions of good and ill conduct, in respect to them, were 
 never derived from the retributive scenes of another 
 world ? What, then, did Abraham mean, when he 
 looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder 
 and maker is God ; and Moses, when he esteemed the 
 reproach of Christ, or for Christ, the promised Messiah, 
 greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, having re- 
 spect unto the recompense of reward ; and David, 
 and Samuel, and the Prophets, and the long catalogue 
 of worthies mentioned by the Apostle in his Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, who confessed that they were strangers 
 and pilgrims on earth ; who desired a better coun- 
 try, even an heavenly ; submitting to cruel mock- 
 ings, to torture and death, not accepting deliverance, 
 that they might obtain a better resurrection ? And 
 not to insist on many other passages in the Old Testa- 
 ment, where the doctrine of a future state of judgment 
 and account is clearly implied, what, it may be asked, 
 did Daniel mean when he said ; " And many of them 
 that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to 
 
24 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- 
 tempt ; and they that be wise shall shine as the firma- 
 ment, and they that turn many to righteousness as the 
 brightness of the firmament forever and ever ?" Is it 
 conceivable, that these, and many similar passages in 
 the Old Testament, had their meaning exhausted in 
 reference to temporal scenes ; or that the people to 
 whom they were originally addressed, had no know- 
 ledge of an existence beyond the grave ? The doctrine 
 of the soul's immortality, then, is taught, not only in the 
 New, but also in the Old Testament ; and the Bible 
 is to be regarded as the chief and the only infallible 
 depository among men, of this great and most anima- 
 ting truth. 
 
 3. The third truth referred to as taught in the Bible, 
 and taught nowhere else, is deliverance from sin and 
 its punishment through the mediation of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. This primary and capital truth, the revelation 
 of heaven bears on its very front. It throws a broad 
 and cheering light over all the pathway of life ; illu- 
 mines the regions beyond ihe grave, and raises penitent, 
 believing man to fellowship with angels and God. Its 
 infinite importance we cannot know, till we can esti- 
 mate the value of the soul, and comprehend the joys of 
 eternity. If you would learn something of its precious- 
 pess, go and contrast the darkness and gloom that op- 
 press the mind and hang over the hopes of a poor 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 25 
 
 heathen, as he approaches the hour of death, with the 
 light and joy that fill the soul of him who, as he looks 
 into eternity, can say, " I know in whom I have be- 
 lieved, and am persuaded that he will keep that which 
 I have committed to him, against that day." 
 
 Of the literature of the Bible — of the simplicity and 
 purity that mark its style — of the originality and gran- 
 deur of its sentiments — of its poetry and eloquence — of 
 its rich and exhaustless material for the exercise of 
 deep thought — for cultivating the taste — for invigorating 
 the imagination, and for eliciting and improving all the 
 best feelings and faculties of the soul ; of these topics, 
 admitting of varied and interesting illustration, time 
 forbids me to speak. I shall pass them with a single 
 trite quotation from the writings of Sir William Jones ; 
 a man eminently qualified, as well by the piety of his 
 heart, as by the splendor of his talents, to decide in a 
 case of this kind. " I have carefully and regularly 
 perused the Scriptures," says this truly great and learned 
 man, " and am of opinion, that this volume, indepen- 
 dent of its divine origin, contains more sublimity, purer 
 morality, more important history and finer strains of 
 eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, 
 in whatever language they may have been written." 
 
 That the Bible is decidedly friendly to civil and 
 religious freedom, and contains the only principles on 
 which true liberty can rest with permanency, must be 
 
 3 
 
26 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 obvious to every one who knows any thing of its spirit 
 or its doctrines. The Hebrew commonwealth presents 
 the first example ever witnessed in our world, of a fede- 
 rate republic, governed by equal and fixed laws, and 
 securing liberty to the subject, in its truest and best 
 sense.* Neither tyrant nor pope has ever been able to 
 chain down the minds of men, or subject their necks to 
 the yoke of oppression, while they had the Scriptures 
 in their hands, and were allowed to read and under- 
 stand them. The work of subjugation has always 
 been preceded by locking up the word of life and taking 
 from the people the key of knowledge. And so it must 
 be, from the nature of the case. The Bible recognizes 
 the common origin and common rights of men ; and 
 while they learn from this infallible source of instruc- 
 tion, that God has made of one blood all nations to 
 dwell on all the face of the earth ; that he has fashioned 
 them alike as to natural rights and privileges, and 
 made each responsible to himself, as the original source 
 of power and government, they never can voluntarily 
 submit to be slaves either in body or mind ; either to 
 civil or ecclesiastical domination. I will only add, that 
 if the liberties of our beloved country are to be preserved 
 to bless future generations, it must be by spreading 
 abroad, through the land, the spirit and principles of 
 the Bible. And if they are ever destroyed, the first 
 
 * See Russel's History of Palestine, chap. iii. Hebrew Commonwealth. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 27 
 
 blow will be struck by men who disbelieve and hate the 
 Bible. 
 
 That the Bible is the great awakener of intellect ; 
 the most powerfully exciting cause that can be brought to 
 bear on the mind of man, might be shown from innu- 
 merable facts, but especially from the mighty influ- 
 ence it exerted in bringing about the Reformation. 
 Erasmus, and men like Erasmus, might have lived and 
 labored in the cultivation of literature a thousand years, 
 and the nations had never awoke to break off the chains 
 of superstition and sottishness. Such a man as Luther 
 was needed, who should lift up his voice in the name of 
 God, and publish his word to the slumbering and en- 
 slaved nations. This he did ; and the version of the 
 Scriptures made and published by him in the vernacu- 
 lar tongue of his country, produced, as Mosheim re- 
 marks, almost incredible effects, and contributed, more 
 than any other cause, to overthrow the false principles 
 and superstitious practices of the church of Rome. 
 
 And where, let me ask, has the mind of man attained 
 its highest perfection ; the arts and sciences been culti- 
 vated with the greatest success, and the blessings of 
 general education enjoyed in the greatest abundance ? 
 Take a map of the world, and draw a circle around 
 those parts, where there are schools and academies and 
 colleges, and where, in consequence, there is an intelli- 
 gent, enterprising population, and you will enclose those 
 
28 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 very sections of our globe on which the Bible has shed 
 its purest and brightest light. Take the map and again 
 encircle those countries where there are hospitals, alms- 
 houses, asylums and retreats for the unfortunate and 
 the suffering, and charity schools, and humane and 
 charitable societies for the relief of wretchedness, and the 
 general diffusion of knowledge and happiness ; and 
 again you will enclose those very countries where the 
 principles of the Bible have taken the deepest root and 
 had the fullest sway in forming the character of the 
 people. These are the monuments which proclaim the 
 spirit and tendency of the Bible ; they are entirely un- 
 known, and always have been unknown in heathen 
 lands ; they are exclusively the effects of the Bible, and 
 they demonstrate, that if the spirit and precepts of the 
 sacred volume were universally imbibed and acted upon, 
 the bliss of Paradise would revisit the earth, and the 
 smiles of God rest upon all the dwellings of men. 
 
 In passing to a brief notice of the prospects of the 
 Bible, we need not insist upon its divine inspiration, 
 but look at it simply as a human composition. 
 
 1. And the first thing that strikes us is, that there is 
 something in the Bible which takes a deep hold of 
 human nature — something that approves itself to the 
 intellect and conscience, to the feelings and wants of 
 man. On any other supposition, it were the greatest 
 miracle that has ever been heard of, that for so many 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 29 
 
 thousand years, and in circumstances that have opposed 
 the most powerful resistance to its claims, it should, so 
 extensively, have maintained its ascendancy in the world 
 and enlisted in its favor such an amount of the finest 
 talent and deepest learning that have adorned the na- 
 ture and blessed the condition of man. We need only 
 look at the power of the Bible over the minds and 
 hearts of men — not of the uncultivated and ignorant 
 merely, but of the best educated and the most intelligent 
 and thinking men, and we must be satisfied, that there 
 is a philosophy in the Bible, that speaks to the deepest 
 feelings of our nature, and is in entire coincidence with 
 the intellectual and moral constitution of man. Here 
 indeed lies the great power of the Bible ; it is in sym- 
 pathy with the nature of man as an intelligent, moral 
 being. It speaks to his feelings, it speaks to his wants, 
 it speaks to his hopes, and it satisfies them all. Here 
 too is furnished strong presumptive evidence of the 
 continued permanence and ultimate triumph of the 
 Bible over the world. You say that the philosophy of 
 Newton will go on to prosper and extend its dominion, 
 because it is true to nature, or to the laws of the 
 physical world. For the same reason, a believer in the 
 Bible may say, that that will go on to prosper and ex- 
 tend its empire over man, because it is true to the nature 
 and adapted to the wants of man. 
 
 3* 
 
30 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 2. There is a power in the Bible, which, while it 
 tends to subdue all things to itself, is indestructible by 
 any other power that can be brought against it. I speak 
 not here of its being divine, the word of God, and that 
 therefore it must endure forever ; nor do I refer simply 
 to the fact of its great antiquity, — of its having outlived 
 all its cotemporaries, and still retaining the freshness of 
 youth, and therefore destined to live forever. I refer 
 rather to the conflicts in which the Bible has actually 
 been engaged ; to the combined and varied, and power- 
 ful efforts that have often been made to destroy it, and 
 to the fact, that in all these contests, carried on some- 
 times by power, sometimes by wit, sometimes by learning, 
 and sometimes by all united, it has not only come off 
 conqueror, but more than conqueror. In every onset 
 of its foes, it has risen with renewed strength, with ex- 
 tended empire and brighter prospects. It has fought 
 the battle with the idolatries and atheism of ancient 
 Greece and Rome, and triumphed. It -has fought the 
 battle with the superstitions and corruptions of popery, 
 that had been gathering strength for a thousand years, 
 and striking their roots down through the firm frame- 
 work of society, and triumphed. It has fought the bat- 
 tle with infidelity, panoplied in talent, and genius, and 
 power, and marshalled by her ablest and most zealous 
 captains, and triumphed. It has also fought the battle 
 with false interpretation — that formidable enemy which, 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 31 
 
 a few years since, was laboring so successfully, especially 
 on the continent of Europe, to destroy the power, by 
 taking away the vital principles of the Bible, and 
 triumphed. What now is the inference from these 
 facts ? Why, that the Bible is formed of indestructible 
 material, — that it possesses a vital, intrinsic power, 
 that is fitted to " endure, and spread, and vanquish the 
 hearts of men." The sacred volume, we see, after 
 having repeatedly passed through the severest ordeals 
 to which its enemies could subject it, is still holding on 
 the even tenor of its way. It now stands on higher 
 vantage ground than ever before. Its decided and de- 
 voted friends are far more numerous, and among them 
 is a full proportion of the talent and learning that are 
 to be found in the world. 
 
 3. It is a fact worthy of special notice, that, among 
 the friends of the Bible, there is an intelligent, settled 
 purpose to spread the knowledge of the Scriptures 
 through the world. This purpose is not confined to 
 any one part of Christendom, nor to any one denom- 
 ination of Christians. It is common to all true and 
 hearty believers in the Bible. All such, of whatever 
 sect or name, have for several years past, been coming 
 under the influence of a deep seated conviction, that the 
 knowledge of the Bible ought, with the least possible 
 delay, to be imparted to all mankind ; and that no per- 
 son, claiming the Christian name, can be excused from 
 
32 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 bearing a part in this benevolent work. This is no 
 longer a sentiment that is argued and discussed, as of 
 doubtful validity ; it is assumed as a self-evident princi- 
 ple ; it makes an essential part of Christian morals, and 
 is proceeded upon in all the efforts that are made to 
 sustain and extend the operations of our public benevo- 
 lent societies, as a maxim well understood and admitted 
 by all. And its influence is becoming very great. It 
 is seen in the Sabbath School, in the Bible class, in the 
 Missionary and Bible Society, and in numerous other 
 associations, that have been formed, all having in view 
 the common object of diffusing the knowledge and 
 extending the empire of the Bible over the world. 
 These societies are not of ephemeral growth ; they 
 were not gotten up, nor are they sustained by passion, 
 or party zeal. They rest on sober intelligent convic- 
 tion of truth and duty ; they exist among all classes of 
 Christians, and in every Christian country ; there is 
 no decline of zeal or energy in the support of them ; 
 on the contrary, they are continually rising in strength 
 and efficiency ; are every year gathering new and more 
 determined friends to the common cause, and are 
 actually looking, with strong hope, to the time, as fast 
 approaching, when the Bible shall become the book of 
 man, and be read of all nations. That the purpose, 
 then, of sending the scriptures through the world, 
 should be soon abandoned, is the most unlikely event 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 33 
 
 that can happen ; nor is it doubtful, if it be maintained 
 and prosecuted, that it will finally attain its object, and 
 put the book of God into the hands of every family on 
 earth. 
 
 4. For, in the fourth place, notice the facilities that at 
 present exist for multiplying and circulating copies of 
 the scriptures. Before the invention of printing, the 
 labor of transcribing the Bible was immense, requiring 
 many months, or perhaps a year, to furnish a single 
 copy. Now it is said that seventy-five common ISmo. 
 Bibles can be struck off in an hour by one press. At 
 this rate, one hundred presses could in three years sup- 
 ply every family on earth with a Bible. The presses 
 now owned by the American Bible Society, might, if 
 kept constantly employed, strike off 500,000 Bibles a 
 year. In the time of Wiclif, a single New Testament 
 cost nearly two hundred dollars our money ; now it costs 
 twelve and a half cents, and the whole Bible fifty cents. 
 Before the modern improvements in navigation, the 
 intercourse of nations was extremely limited. The 
 world was comparatively but little known, and many 
 portions of it were regarded as wholly inaccessible. 
 Now every nook and corner of the globe has been sur- 
 veyed ; the physical, intellectual and moral condition 
 of the nations ascertained, and the means of intercourse 
 with all the various tribes of man, are so multiplied and 
 easy, that if Christendom would rise in her strength and 
 
34 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 bring even but a small part of her resources to bear on 
 the great enterprise, the present generation would not 
 pass away, till the Bible had visited every land and es- 
 tablished its empire in the heart of every country on the 
 earth. The thing is entirely practicable, on grounds of 
 common calculation ; and from the present attitude of 
 the christian world, there is much reason to hope that it 
 will soon be seriously and successfully attempted. 
 
 One thing greatly facilitating the attainment of this 
 object, is the fact that the Bible, in whole or in part, has 
 already been translated into nearly two hundred of the 
 five hundred dialects that are supposed to be spoken by 
 the different tribes of men, and constitute something 
 more than one hundred distinct languages. Between 
 sixty and seventy of these translations are in the lan- 
 guages of Asia, which are spoken by far the largest part 
 of the human race.* 
 
 5. The relative position of the nations is such also as 
 eminently to favor the extension "of the knowledge 
 and influence of the Bible. The nations of idolatry and 
 false religion are universally declining in numbers and 
 power. Heathenism, in many parts, is waxing old and 
 is ready to vanish away. In the mean time, the nations 
 of Christendom are daily rising in number and strength, 
 
 * The British and Foreign Bible Society has printed, or assisted 
 to print, the Bible in one hundred and forty different languages, in 
 fifty-five of which, it had never before been published. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 53 
 
 and in the blessings, derived from the arts and sciences, 
 and from civil andj religious freedom. This their deci- 
 ded superiority over the rest of the world, in all that el- 
 evates the mind and makes life happy, is seen and felt 
 by the nations of paganism, and is beginning to under- 
 mine their long established superstitions, and to prepare 
 them for the reception of a purer faith. It happens, too, 
 that the nations of Christendom, which are destined to 
 the most rapid growth and to the widest extension of 
 their power and influence, are the very nations where 
 the Bible is most valued, and among whom it has the 
 freest and fullest circulation. I of course refer to 
 Great-Britain and America. The former of these coun- 
 tries is holding empire, in the east, over nearly one hun- 
 dred millions of people, among whom she is introducing 
 her laws, her language, and her religion. She is doing 
 the same in Australasia, Polynesia, and various other 
 parts of the world. Through the medium of her ex- 
 tended commerce she is holding intercourse with every 
 part of the globe, is establishing an influence on the 
 shores of every sea, and diffusing, far and wide, her 
 language, fraught, beyond any other language on earth, 
 with the principles of the Bible, and with all that is 
 best adapted to recommend the Bible to the attention 
 and faith of all classes of mankind. 
 
 In this great work of diffusing the knowledge of the 
 Bible by means of extending the English stock and the 
 
36 ON THE LITERARY HISTORY 
 
 English language, our own country is destined to bear 
 a conspicuous part. We are borne forward to an un- 
 paralleled greatness. In a few years our population will 
 rise to fifty millions, and as it goes on, extending itself 
 over the immense, unpeopled territory that stretches to 
 the westward of the old states, the Bible, we may hope, 
 will follow in the train, and every year be adding to the 
 extent of its empire and the number of its subjects. 
 From the causes just named upwards of a million every 
 year are added to the number of nominal christians, — 
 a constant rate of increase, greater than ever before oc- 
 curred, and a rate which is ever increasing in geome- 
 trical progression.* 
 
 Aside, then, from the divine authority of the Bible, 
 there is, on the ground of ordinary calculation, strong 
 reason for believing that the extension of its dominion 
 over the world, so far as to overthrow every system of 
 false religion and engage the general assent of mankind 
 to its truth, is a probable event. But there is higher 
 ground to be taken. The Bible is a revelation from 
 heaven ; it is God's own word, and clothed with God's 
 own authority. Probability now becomes certainty. 
 The Bible, in fulfilment of its own predictions, will go on 
 from conquering to conquer, till every idol is demolished 
 and every false religion overthrown, and itself " install- 
 ed in the place of undisputed authority," shall become 
 
 * See Douglass' Hints on Missions. 
 
OF THE BIBLE. 37 
 
 the rule of every man's faith and the guide of every 
 man's life. In the mean time, let its friends go on 
 multiplying copies of the scriptures and scattering them 
 over the earth. The principles of the Bible broadcast 
 among the nations, are the seeds of their moral renova- 
 tion, — the elements of their deliverance, from the do- 
 minion and the miseries of sin. They may seem lost 
 for a season, buried beneath masses of ignorance and 
 sottishness. But at the appointed time, the sunshine and 
 the rain of heaven, the vivifying influence of the spirit, 
 will descend upon the barren earth, and the seed of life 
 will spring up, and moral verdure and beauty clothe all 
 these regions of desolation and death. Then the Bible 
 will be seen and felt to be the best gift of God to a 
 guilty world ; and every man binding it to his heart, 
 will be seen bowing before the God of the Bible, and 
 singing in concert with all the dwellers on earth, 
 " Alleluia ! Salvation ! The Lord God omnipotent 
 reigneth !" 
 
LECTURE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 AS GIVING DIGNITY TO THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 
 
 BY REV. T. H. GALLAIDET, 
 
LECTURE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 AS GIVING DIGNITY TO THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 
 
 Every one is sensible, that our thoughts and feel- 
 ings succeed each other, during our waking moments, 
 in a constant train. There is no cessation. We must 
 think and feel continually, with greater or less degrees 
 of intensity. 
 
 Do our thoughts and feelings succeed each other at 
 random ; or does experience enable us to determine, 
 that there is an order of succession, and by what law 
 this order is regulated ? 
 
 No one who has noticed, at all, the operations of his 
 own mind, can have failed to observe, that certain 
 thoughts and feelings, are usually followed by certain 
 others, and that this happens, with such a degree of 
 uniformity, as to enable us to anticipate it, just as we 
 do the recurrence of events in the natural world, which 
 are subject to general laws. 
 4* 
 
42 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 That general law of the mind, to which the succes- 
 sion of its thoughts, and feelings, is subject, is usually 
 called the association of ideas ; and the principle of 
 association is said to depend on resemblance, contrast, 
 contiguity in time or place, and cause and effect. 
 
 I think of one person, and immediately of another, 
 because there is a resemblance between them. I think 
 of. a giant, and then of a dwarf, because they are so 
 strongly contrasted with each other. I think of the 
 loud ringing of the bell, and the cry of fire, because 
 they both have happened at the same time. I think 
 of the oak, and of the mansion near it, because I have 
 seen these objects contiguous to each other. I think 
 of the power of steam, and of the rapid motion of the 
 steamboat, because of the relation between them of 
 cause and effect. 
 
 In the same way, our feelings are associated with 
 each other, and with our thoughts also, and the law 
 which regulates their succession, ought, more properly, 
 to be called, the association of ideas and emotions. 
 
 This law of association is subject to various modifi- 
 cations. The progress of time modifies it. Thoughts 
 and feelings associated together many years ago, (as a 
 general fact,) do not recur to the mind, as often as those 
 of a later date. Repetition modifies this law. The 
 oftener certain thoughts and feelings are associated 
 together in the mind, the greater is the probability of 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 43 
 
 their future recurrence. This law, too, is greatly af- 
 fected by the perception of sensible objects. An object 
 of sight, of hearing, of smell, of taste, or of touch, if 
 formerly associated with any particular idea, or emo- 
 tion, will, if again present to the senses, recall that idea, 
 or emotion, with peculiar vividness. What a rush of 
 thought and feeling enters the soul, when we stand on 
 the spot, where we saw deposited the remains of a de- 
 parted friend. It is the sight of the grave that affects 
 us, so as no mere conception of it can do. 
 
 There is another very powerful cause which controls 
 and modifies this law of association, and that is, the 
 degree of interest which we feel in the objects associa- 
 ted, at the time when they are thus connected in the 
 mind. Numberless associations of thought and feeling 
 daily take place in our minds, and perish, never to be 
 revived again, because, at the time of their existence, 
 they excited no peculiar interest. On the contrary, 
 such associations as are attended with this interest, or 
 with any strong emotion, are likely to return again, 
 with a frequency, and a vividness, in proportion to this 
 interest, or emotion. How many objects will recall to 
 those who saw him, when last in this country, the image 
 of Lafayette ; and how glowing will this image be in 
 the minds of the surviving few who shared with him 
 the dangers, and partake with him the glory, of our 
 national struggle for independence. These objects, and 
 
44 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 the sight of this illustrious man, have already been once 
 associated in their minds, with an intense interest, and 
 the image revives again quickly and vividly at the 
 presence of the object. 
 
 This general law of the association of ideas and 
 emotions, subject to the modifications that I have men- 
 tioned, and, perhaps, to some others, acts, scarcely at 
 all, under the direct control of the will ; but, to a very 
 great degree, in accordance with the purposes and de- 
 sires of the soul, and especially, with the leading pur- 
 pose and desire. 
 
 Let human glory be the leading purpose and desire 
 of the soul, and almost every object of sense, or of intel- 
 lect, will recall associations connected with the fancied 
 enjoyments of this glory, or with the means of obtaining 
 it. What thoughts and emotions filled the soul of Na- 
 poleon, when he read, while yet a youth, of Julius 
 Cesar ? Military power, armies, battles, victories, tri- 
 umphs, a crown, an empire, dazzled his enchanted 
 vision. His solitary musings, his prophetic fancies, his 
 prospects, his plans, his conversation, and, I dare say, 
 his very dreams, were crowded with the images of 
 heroic enterpsise, — of ambition panting for dominion 
 and renown. 
 
 These associations constituted the greatest part, if 
 not the whole, of his intellectual enjoyment, and tended 
 powerfully to form and develop his deeply interesting 
 character. 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 45 
 
 On the contrary, what entirely different associations 
 of thought and feeling, must have been continually 
 passing through the mind of the philanthropic Howard. 
 To do good, was the governing purpose of his soul. 
 " He visited all Europe," said the eloquent Burke, " not 
 to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateli- 
 ness of temples ; not to make accurate measurements 
 of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale 
 of the curiosities of modern art ; not to collect medals, 
 or collate manuscripts ; but to dive into the depths of 
 dungeons ; to plunge into the infection of hospitals ; to 
 survey the mansions of sorrow and pain ; to take the 
 gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and con- 
 tempt ; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the 
 neglected ; to visit the forsaken ; to compare and col- 
 late the distresses of all men, in all countries. His plan 
 was original ; as full of genius, as it was of humanity." 
 
 When Howard read of Julius Cesar, the principle 
 of association did not operate in his mind, as in that of 
 Napoleon. It did not operate by resemblance, but by 
 contrast. Howard thought of power, but of a power 
 far more noble and effectual than that of the sword, — 
 the power of moral influence ; of conflicts — but of con- 
 flicts with oppression and cruelty ; of triumphs, over 
 vice and wretchedness ; of victories, to succor the dis- 
 tressed ; of the empire of peace on earth and good will 
 to men ; of a crown, of heavenly glory, and of imperish- 
 able lustre. 
 
46 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 He lived, in a most remarkable manner, elevated 
 above all the gratifications of sense. His associations 
 of thought and feeling were the elements of his happi- 
 ness ; and how pure and elevated that happiness must 
 have been. 
 
 It seems, then, to be an important truth, that so far 
 as we aim to have our happiness, in this world, derived 
 from other sources than those of mere animal enjoyment, 
 we are dependent, for a great amount of it, on our asso- 
 ciations of thought and feeling ; that these associations, 
 generally, take place in accordance with the prevailing 
 desires and purposes of the soul, and of course, derive 
 their character from the objects of pursuit, and of hope, 
 to which these purposes and desires are directed. If 
 these objects are worthy of the affections of a virtuous 
 and elevated mind, such will be the character of the 
 associations of that mind, and such the kind of happi- 
 ness which it enjoys. 
 
 But if these objects of pursuit, and of hope, are low, 
 degrading, vicious, the mind that directs its desires and 
 purposes towards them, must of necessity have similar 
 associations of thought and feeling, and enjoyments, if, 
 indeed, they can be called by that name, of the most 
 base and unworthy kind. 
 
 It follows, also, from what has been said, that those 
 objects of time and sense with which we are daily con- 
 versant ; those occupations in which we are engaged ; 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 47 
 
 those duties which we are called upon to perform ; those 
 innocent pleasures in which we are permitted to indulge ; 
 those sufferings, difficulties, and trials, which we have 
 to endure, become to us sources of happiness, on the one 
 hand, or of wretchedness on the other, not so much from 
 the immediate and direct effects which they produce 
 upon us, as from the associations of thought and feeling 
 with which they are connected. So far, then, as we as- 
 pire to enjoyments, not of an animal, but of an intellec- 
 tual and moral kind, we have it in our power, (by the 
 control that our desires and purposes have over our as- 
 sociations of thought and feeling,) to shed the freshness 
 and brightness of some kind of mental imagery, (as our 
 peculiar taste may be,) upon all the objects and pursuits 
 which interest us, and to see reflected from all that is 
 around us, as in the mirror of Nature itself, the splendid 
 illusions of a poetical fancy, or the fairer and prophetic 
 visions of heaven-born Hope. 
 
 I propose, in the remaining part of this lecture, to ex- 
 emplify these truths, in their relation to that kind and 
 degree of happiness, and to that elevation and dignity 
 of character, which the objects of the Christian's faith and 
 hope, have a direct and natural tendency to produce in 
 him, in strict accordance with the known laws of the 
 human mind, and more especially with that law of asso- 
 ciation, which we have been considering. 
 
 A great proportion of our pleasures, and pains, proceed, 
 
48 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 either directly or indirectly, from these bodies which our 
 souls inhabit. We all know, how dependent we are on 
 the healthful state of our body, not only for those inde- 
 scribable sensations of ease and comfort, of cheerfulness 
 and buoyancy of feeling, which this healthful state af- 
 fords, but also for the free and efficient exercise of our 
 very intellectual and moral powers. The body, then, 
 from this our intimate union with it, cannot but be to 
 us an object of deep interest. We almost contract a sort 
 of friendship for the house in which we have long lived, 
 for the room which has been the peculiar scene of our 
 joys and sorrows, for the chair in which we have set 
 hour after hour, musing on the past, or planning for the 
 future ; and who is there that does not part, with some- 
 thing more than a fancied regret, with the very lamp 
 that has been the companion of his evening studies, or 
 the cane that has attended him in his summer walks. 
 Such is the power of association, deep, natural, univer- 
 sal. The same power of association leads me to regard 
 my body with an intense interest ; for it has, indeed, 
 been the intimate companion of my soul, and without 
 which, as I am now constituted, my soul could not act 
 or feel. My body is a part of myself, and how melan- 
 choly are many of the associations connected with it. 
 How much it has added to the list of my sorrows and 
 sufferings ! It is destined, too, to dissolution and decay ! 
 Disease must prey upon it ; death triumph over it, 
 and the inexorable grave claim it for its victim ! 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 49 
 
 Philosophy cannot relieve the gloom of these melan- 
 choly associations. Can Christianity ? Yes. Faith 
 in Him who is the resurrection and the life, sheds a 
 new and cheering light upon the tomb, and robs death 
 of its sting, and the grave of its victory. What sublime 
 and beautiful associations, it is the privilege of the 
 Christian to cast round the frail and dying body, which, 
 for a little season, his soul is destined to inhabit. 
 
 " There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial : 
 but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the 
 terrestrial is another. 
 
 " There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of 
 the moon, and another glory of the stars ; for one star 
 differeth from another star in glory. 
 
 " So also is the resurrection of the dead : it is sown in 
 corruption, it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dis- 
 honor, it is raised in glory : it is sown in weakness, it is 
 raised in power : it is sown a natural body, it is raised a 
 spiritual body." " This corruptible must put on incor- 
 ruption, and this mortal must put on immortality ; then 
 shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
 Death is swallowed up in victory. O ! death ! where 
 is thy sting ! O ! grave ! where is thy victory ! the 
 sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law. 
 But thanks be to God which giveth -us the victory, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 5 
 
50 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 I was about to say that this passage is one of the 
 sublimest nights of poetry on record ; for what is genu- 
 ine poetry, but the imagery of association which the 
 creative fancy sheds over the objects and scenes that 
 are around us. What can Roman, or Grecian litera- 
 ture produce, to compare with this passage, on the aw- 
 ful subject of death and the grave ; awful, indeed, but 
 for the light which dawns upon it from the word of 
 God. 
 
 But this passage is full, too, of sound philosophy, and 
 of most consoling truth. Its wonderful conceptions 
 could never have entered the mind of an uninspired 
 man. It stands, among the convincing internal evi- 
 dences of the divine origin of the Scriptures. It stands, 
 to point to the mere man of the world, and to the scep- 
 tical philosopher, a source of present, exquisite and ele- 
 vated enjoyment, which the Christian alone possesses, 
 in being able to redeem his sinful and dying body from 
 the gloomy associations which death casts around it ; — 
 to divest it of its sepulchral habiliments ; to disenthral 
 it from its dismal charnel-house ; to clothe it with im- 
 mortal health, and strength and beauty ; to adorn it 
 with the robes of angelic purity, and grace ; to have it 
 wing its way to Paradise, and there inhale delight at 
 every breath of* empyreal air, and feel rapture at every 
 spontaneous movement, and bliss unutterable at the 
 sight of every heavenly vision, and the hearing of every 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 51 
 
 heavenly sound ; and thus become the ethereal organ 
 of the soul's communion with God, and the spirits of the 
 just made perfect, when that soul, like itself, shall be 
 free from imperfection and sin, and endowed with ca- 
 pacities of action and of enjoyment, to render it vastly 
 more superior to its new, and spiritual body, than even 
 its present faculties render it to its earthly body. 
 
 May I not say, then, that even in this life, and on 
 the strictest principles of the philosophy of the human 
 mind, the Christian has a pure and elevated source of 
 enjoyment, in the beautiful and sublime associations, 
 which his faith enables him to cast round his frail and 
 perishable body, which is peculiar to himself, and of 
 which all others are deprived, who will not be partakers 
 of his faith. 
 
 May I not add, too, that these associations are sources 
 of something more than this pure and elevated enjoy- 
 ment, — that they tend to raise the character of him 
 who possesses them, to a higher degree of moral dignity 
 and excellence. 
 
 This is true, on the ground that the general character 
 of man is always materially affected by the nature of 
 his enjoyments. If these enjoyments are gross and 
 sensual, they will influence the whole mass of his de- 
 sires, purposes, and habits, (and these constitute his 
 character) ; if they are pure, intellectual, elevated, such 
 will the man be. Here, as in the natural world, there 
 
52 
 
 is a powerful action and reaction. Our character influ- 
 ences our choice of enjoyments ; and our enjoyments, 
 again, help to form and establish our character. 
 
 Instead of seeking to gratify his sensual appetites, and 
 thus to make his body the instrument of degrading his 
 soul, he who strives for the mastery over it, and to bring 
 it into subjection to the strictest rules of temperance 
 and purity, and who casts around it those beautiful and 
 sublime associations with which, we have seen, the 
 Christian faith adorns and dignifies it, will surely, from 
 the very power of these associations, find all his good 
 resolutions strengthened ; the force of his bodily temp- 
 tations weakened, and his earthly part thus becoming 
 kindred to his spiritual, and, even now, anticipating its 
 future glorious destiny, will both add a fresh lustre to 
 his character, as an intellectual and religious being, and 
 furnish him with new and exalted motives to sustain 
 and improve this character. 
 
 Again, one of our purest and most exquisite sources 
 of enjoyment, is the contemplation of the works of Na- 
 ture. This, you know, has been the theme of poets 
 and of philosophers, for ages. In the language of one 
 whose refined and elevated soul drank deep at this 
 perennial fountain of living waters — 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. Oo 
 
 41 Oh ! how canst thou renounce the boundless store 
 Of charms which Nature to her votary yields ; 
 The warbling woodland, the resounding shore ; 
 The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields ; 
 All that the genial ray of morning gilds ; 
 And all that echoes to the song of even ; 
 All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields ; 
 And all the dread magnificence of heaven ; 
 Oh ! how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven." 
 
 The pleasure which we derive from these objects of 
 Nature, and, indeed, from all the objects of taste, and 
 of the fine arts, depends almost entirely upon the asso- 
 ciations with which these objects are accompanied in 
 our minds. 
 
 These objects are but the mirrors which reflect the 
 mental and moral imagery which our own imagination 
 casts upon them. What this imagery is to be, as I 
 have before observed, depends upon the peculiar cha- 
 racter of each individual, upon his prevailing desires and 
 purposes, and of course, upon the habits of association 
 which those desires and purposes produce. 
 
 The painter will see in many of the human beings 
 which pass before him, proportions, forms, colors, graces, 
 beauties, that common observers know nothing of. 
 These beings are to him, almost like his own canvass, 
 the mere substance around which he clusters the asso- 
 ciations of ideal perfection, which he has derived from 
 the most finished models of his art. 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 The poet, too, what does he not see in the sights, and 
 hear in the sounds, and breathe in the fragrance of 
 universal nature. He sees the air, the earth, the waters, 
 peopled with the imaginary deities of classical mytholo- 
 gy, or with the fairy forms of his own creative fancy. 
 
 In the music of the grove, the rush of the waterfall, 
 the roaring of the thunder, he hears unearthly sounds, 
 voices, as if of the spirits of the departed, soothing, in- 
 spiring, elevating his soul, and calling him far away 
 from these every-day scenes of common and grovelling 
 humanity. 
 
 What is the foundation of these, and similar pleasures, 
 which have claimed the admiration of genius and taste, 
 through each succeeding age 1 Nothing else, truly, 
 but the associations, intellectual and moral, which the 
 mind itself casts over the various objects of sense which 
 surround it. 
 
 Now what are the wild, and fantastic, and, in many 
 cases, puerile and disgusting associations of heathen 
 mythology, or those chaster and more tasteful ones of 
 modern poesy, which those who regard not the beauti- 
 ful and sublime of Revelation, would fain spread 
 over the face of universal nature, — what are they, in 
 comparison with those associations, with which the ob- 
 jects of the Christian's faith, enable him to invest all 
 that meets his senses, — every sight that he sees, — every 
 sound that he hears, — every odor that he inhales ; and 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 56 
 
 give to all such a moral grandeur, and loveliness, that 
 it seems as if his vision were not confined to this earthly 
 sphere, but, stretching away, above this amphitheatre 
 of terrestrial scenes, and beyond the illimitable expanse 
 of those hosts of worlds, which almost dazzle and con- 
 found his imagination, rises to the very throne of the 
 Almighty, the splendor of which illuminates and cheers 
 the whole. 
 
 What is matter without mind ? What are forms, 
 and colors, and proportions, without those associations 
 which are blended with them ? What is there of the 
 beautiful or sublime in the forms, and colors, and pro- 
 portions, and sounds, and motions of inanimate objects, 
 only so far as we consider them the emblems of some 
 intellectual or moral qualities of the soul, or invest them 
 with some of its attributes and characteristics. 
 
 Mind pants after mind, and seeks to find its own love- 
 liness, or grandeur, in all the objects that come within 
 its notice ; in the modest violet, the blushing rose, the 
 peaceful lake, the majestic oak, the awful cliff, the glo- 
 rious sun. 
 
 Mind pants after mind, — and where can the immortal 
 mind of man stop, till it communes with the infinite and 
 eternal mind ? In the objects and scenes of universal 
 nature, shall it commune only with kindred human 
 minds, or even with the brightest, fairest beings of ideal 
 beauty and sublimity which the imagination of the 
 
56 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 poet can create, and aspire not to a higher and holier 
 communion with that Being who formed, sustains, and 
 blesses the whole ; and of whose attributes and charac- 
 ter, all that is lovely, and beautiful, and sublime in na- 
 ture, is but the faint and imperfect image. 
 
 Let any one who would give the highest degree of 
 refinement and dignity to his intellectual and moral 
 pleasures, and elevate his own character as an intelli- 
 gent being, weigh well the truths which we have just 
 been considering ; and, while he seeks, in the works of 
 nature which surround him, a never-failing source of 
 pure and exquisite enjoyment, let him inquire, as a lover 
 of sound philosophy, what associations the fictions of 
 classical mythology, or of modern poesy, — what the 
 sweetest, loftiest strains of Horace and Virgil, of Aken- 
 side and Byron, — can produce, to bear a comparison, 
 with those of the Word of the God of Nature ; with 
 those which fall on the ravished ear, from the harp of 
 inspired David, or of the almost inspired Cowper. 
 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
 ment sheweth his handy-work. Day unto day uttereth 
 speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." — "O 
 Lord, my God, thou art very great : thou art clothed with 
 honor and majesty. Whocoverest thyself with light as 
 with a garment ; who stretchest out the heavens like a 
 curtain ; who layeth the beams of his chambers in the 
 waters ; who maketh the clouds his chariot ; who walk- 
 eth upon the wings of the wind." 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 57 
 
 " Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste 
 His works. Admitted once to His embrace, 
 Thou shalt perceive, that thou wast blind before : 
 Thine eye shall be instructed, and thine heart, 
 Made pure, shall relish, with divine delight 
 Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought. 
 He who thus sees Him, or receives sublimed 
 New faculties, or learns, at least, t' employ 
 More worthily the powers he owned before, — 
 Discerns La all things, what, with stupid gaze 
 Of ignorance, till then he overlook'd — 
 A ray of heavenly light, gilding all forms 
 Terrestrial, in the vast and the minute ; 
 The unambiguous footsteps of the God 
 Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing, 
 And wheels His throne upon the rolling worlds. 
 He looks abroad into the varied field 
 Of nature, and, though poor perhaps compared 
 With those whose mansions glitter in his sight, 
 Calls the delightful scenery all his own. 
 His are the mountains, and the valleys his, 
 And the resplendent rivers. His t' enjoy 
 With a propriety that none can feel, 
 But who, with filial confidence inspired, 
 Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye, 
 And smiling say — 'My Father made them all.' " 
 
 Again; consider the influence of this power of asso- 
 ciation over our occupations, duties, pleasures, sufferings, 
 difficulties and trials. 
 
 This part of my subject is so extensive, and I have 
 already occupied so much of your time, that I can only 
 glance at a few particulars. 
 
58 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 To be great in this world, is the lot of but few ; and 
 among the truly great, it is the lot of still fewer, to have 
 their attention continually directed to great objects alone. 
 The learned, as well as the ignorant, the refined, as well 
 as those of coarser mould, the king in his palace, as 
 well as the peasant in his cottage, must take a part in 
 the common-place business and drudgery of human life. 
 We cannot live alwa3^s in fairy land, and cheat mortali- 
 ty of its meanness, by our waking dreams, however 
 bright and fair their illusions may be. Certain things 
 must be seen, and done, in all their minute details of 
 repeated and irksome sameness, day after day, or the 
 wheels of human enterprise and action must stop, and 
 our particular concerns stop with them ; however eleva- 
 ted and refined, the leading purposes of the soul may be ; 
 however generous and noble its desires ; however grand 
 the objects at which it aims, or however splendid the re- 
 sults which it hopes will arise from their accomplish- 
 ment. 
 
 This it is which so often disgusts minds of peculiar 
 sensibility and taste, or of heroic boldness and ardor, the 
 imaginative, the enthusiastic, the aspiring, with the dull, 
 and, in their estimation, degrading duties of commonlife; 
 or if they have but the means, and can command the 
 services of others, they disdain to contaminate their sight 
 and touch with what may reduce them to a level with 
 their fellow-men. 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 59 
 
 But fortune is capricious ; or in more correct lan- 
 guage, Providence is just. The trial must come. The 
 sensitive delicacy of a fastidious taste must meet the 
 coarse and revolting scenes, of labor, of sorrow, of 
 suffering. Loss of property may produce the change, 
 or loss of friends, or loss of health, or various other 
 causes. 
 
 Under such circumstances, what a host of unplea- 
 sant and appalling associations crowd upon the soul ; 
 associations of contrast, leading the individual to re- 
 volt, the more at his present condition, from the recollec- 
 tion of his past refined and intellectual enjoyments ; 
 associations of cause and effect, leading him to fearful 
 forebodings of the future, and anticipating, as the result 
 of the present necessity of attention to such low and 
 common-place objects, the complete prostration of all 
 within him, which, in his estimation, constitutes the 
 prerogative and glory of a great mind. 
 
 But let these common-place objects, in themselves 
 however irksome, or tedious, or even, in some cases, re- 
 volting: to a refined and delicate taste, — let them be in- 
 vested with the associations of thought and feeling 
 which the faith of the Christian permits him to shed 
 around them, and what a new aspect do they assume. 
 They become objects, not merely of an atteniion which 
 an imperious necessity demands, but of that lively regard 
 which the cheerful performance of duty, in obedience to 
 
60 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 the will of God, inspires, — nay, of that deep and absorb- 
 ing interest with which the Christian's future glorious 
 prospects in Heaven illuminate them. A beam of light, 
 as it were, from the throne of the Divine majesty, from 
 the very presence of God, breaks through the clouds 
 which overhang his path, and sheds around his most 
 toilsome steps, and over all the objects of his way, the 
 brightest colors. Hope, the sister of that Faith whose 
 arm sustains and invigorates him in his journey to the 
 skies, and of that Charity, or universal Love, whose 
 smile refreshes and gladdens his breast, — Hope dips her 
 pencil in the rainbow of promise, and scatters its brilliant 
 and cheerful hues over all that surrounds him, and he 
 can see nothing mean, or irksome, or revolting, in the 
 path of duty, because every thing about that path re- 
 flects the light and the loveliness of heaven. 
 
 The Christian knows that this is a state of discipline, 
 and that his Divine Master had to be " a man of sor- 
 rows and acquainted with grief," — had to endure all 
 those trials to which humanity is subject, before the con- 
 summation of his great work, and that these very trials 
 were necessarily connected with this very consumma- 
 tion. He walks in the steps of his Master. He knows, 
 that his trials however great ; his self-denial however se- 
 vere ; his duties however repugnant to mere refinement 
 of taste, or humbling to the aspirations of a great and 
 expanding mind ; are all parts, and necessary parts, of 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 61 
 
 his state of probation here below, — that they furnish the 
 lessons which he must learn, the tasks which he must 
 perform, and the means of acquiring those principles and 
 habits of action which he must possess, before his edu- 
 cation in this lower school of Providence is completed, 
 and himself prepared to enter upon the higher employ- 
 ments of the heavenly state. What consoling and 
 elevating associations of thought and feeling do pros- 
 pects like these enable the Christian to shed over ob- 
 jects and scenes, which to other minds are marked with 
 irksomeness and degradation. 
 
 On the other hand, how does the faith of the Chris- 
 tian enable him to invest all his enjoyments and occu- 
 pations, his actions and pursuits, his enterprises and 
 projects, which are in themselves of a refined and ele- 
 vated kind, with associations of thought and emotion, 
 which give to them all a more exquisite refinement, a 
 more noble elevation. 
 
 The very food of which he partakes, is eaten with a 
 richer zest, and the mere animal gratification which it 
 affords, is heightened and dignified, by the considera- 
 tion that the sustenance which thus invigorates his 
 body, is to prepare that body, as the dwelling-place of 
 his immortal soul, the better to become the active and 
 efficient instrument of the operations of that soul, in 
 serving his God, and in doing good to his fellow men. 
 
 6 
 
62 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION, 
 
 In the enjoyments of domestic life, what cheering* 
 and sublime associations of thought and feeling cluster 
 round the endearments and the duties of the family 
 circle. Here the Christian sees a group of immortal 
 beings, to whom he now sustains the most intimate 
 relations, and, on that account, calling forth the tender- 
 est sympathies, and purest love. But these relations 
 end not with this life ; they exist beyond the grave ; — 
 they stretch into eternity, and in view of the scenes of 
 this eternity, they expand into the relations which each 
 will then sustain to their common Heavenly Father, to 
 each other, and to the beings of the future world ; rela- 
 tions, — of the refinements, the pleasures, the grandeur 
 of which, we can now form but the most imperfect con- 
 ception. 
 
 The light of the infant's eye, dearer to the mother's 
 sight, than the costliest gem which sparkles in a mon- 
 arch's crown, is but the beaming forth of that immortal 
 spirit which she hopes yet to cultivate, and expand, and 
 prepare, under the blessing of God, to become a jewel of 
 imperishable lustre in the diadem of its Redeemer. 
 The smile which plays around its face, and greets her 
 own so tenderly, is but the happy going forth of the 
 same spirit ; a happiness which, in this its gentler de- 
 velopment, she hopes and trusts, is but the pledge of 
 that fuller expansion which, in heaven, will be consum- 
 mated in bliss unutterable. 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 63 
 
 And so I might go on, and show the ennobling and 
 happifying influence of those associations of thought 
 and feeling which the Christian's faith affords, upon all 
 those higher and nobler objects of interest and pursuit, 
 which engage'the attention, and call forth the exertions, 
 of the greatest human minds. 
 
 Suppose the mind of one of our most distinguished 
 statesmen, to be under the controlling influence of the 
 Christian's faith, to be actuated by the motives which 
 this faith inspires, and to teem with those associations 
 of thought and feeling, which the objects of this faith 
 afford. He is a Christian patriot ; and in all the 
 laborious duties of his official stations ; in all his coun- 
 sels with kindred souls ; in all his plans of reform and 
 improvement, the future moral and religious, as well as 
 political, aspects of his beloved country, pass before his 
 mind, and glow in his imagination, with all that vivid- 
 ness and beauty which his own creative fancy, in the 
 light of the promises of Revelation, sheds around them. 
 His grandest projects, and his mightiest efforts, with their 
 most splendid results, rise in his estimation to still higher 
 degrees of grandeur and sublimity, because they are but 
 the preparatory steps for making this his beloved coun- 
 try, become, to the millions and millions of people who 
 are yet destined to inhabit it, the great entrance way 
 to that holier and happier country, where Jehovah, in 
 the person of his Son, will manifest his glory, and his 
 empire be one of universal peace and love. 
 
64 
 
 He seeks the honor of his nation, but his estimate of 
 this honor is made with reference to distant times and 
 ages, when the records of history shall breathe the same 
 spirit as the records of Revelation, and the admiration 
 of mankind be directed to the heroes who have been 
 great in doing good, and to the nations that have been 
 the benefactors of mankind ; and he seeks to prepare 
 the way, in the very discharge of his political duties, to 
 have his beloved country distinguished as the instru- 
 ment, in the hand of the King of kings, of diffusing 
 the blessings of civilization, of freedom, and of Chris- 
 tianity, throughout the world. 
 
 He is a Christian statesman ; and he anticipates the 
 day when the principles which he recognizes, and the 
 measures which he advocates, based on the eternal 
 foundation of truth and justice ; imbued with the spirit 
 of the gospel ; acknowledging the paramount obliga- 
 tion of loving our neighbors as ourselves, and of doing 
 to others as we would have others do to us ; breathing 
 peace on earth and good will to men ; when these prin- 
 ciples shall regulate the intercourse of nations ; and the 
 universal adoption of these measures shall bind all men 
 together in one brotherhood of affection : when they 
 shall acknowledge God as their common father ; his 
 Son, as their only Saviour and Lord ; living to do good 
 to each other, as members of one great family ; and 
 inspired by the same ' hopes of immortality, as fellow 
 
AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 65 
 
 heirs of a common inheritance^ which is incorruptible, 
 underlled, and that fadeth not away. 
 
 Such are the associations of thought and feeling 
 which it is the privilege of the Christian statesman, to 
 cast around all his occupations and projects. As a 
 patriot^ he would so conduct the internal affairs of his 
 country, in the spirit, and with the motives of the Gos- 
 pel, as to produce its best, its permanent prosperity. 
 As a philanthropist) he would so manage its external 
 relations, in the same spirit, and with the same motives, 
 that it may contribute, as one portion of the great hu- 
 man family, to the peace and happiness of the whole. 
 
 Revelation assures him that the basis of these sub- 
 lime associations rests on the promise of Jehovah. He 
 delights in them ; he blends them with all his ardu- 
 ous duties and perplexities ; and they shed over all the 
 movements of the political world in which he lives and 
 acts, a moral grandeur ', as much superior to that which 
 the loftiest associations of thought and feeling, among 
 the statesmen and heroes of heathen antiquity could 
 cast over their political movements, as the objects of the 
 Christian's faith and hope, are superior to those of the 
 worshippers of the gods, in ancient Greece and Rome. 
 
 Thus we have seen, that the great amount, almost 
 the whole, of our intellectual and moral pleasures, even 
 in this world, depends upon our habitual associations 
 of thought and feeling, which cluster round the objects 
 
66 ON THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION. 
 
 with which we are daily conversant. These associa- 
 tions depend upon the nature of our desires and purpo- 
 ses, and these again are determined by the character of 
 the objects to which our desires and purposes are 
 directed. 
 
 To what objects are our prevailing desires and 
 purposes directed ? A question, in the solution of 
 which, not only as immortal and accountable beings, 
 but as rational agents, seeking to find the highest hap- 
 piness, of which our nature is susceptible, even in this 
 life, we are most deeply interested. 
 
LECTURE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF THE SABBATH. 
 
 BY REV. HORACE HOOKER. 
 
LECTURE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TEMPORAL BENEFITS OF THE SABBATH. 
 
 One of the most striking characteristics of the divine 
 operations, is the accomplishment of great effects by 
 means apparently simple and insignificant. The insti- 
 tution of the Sabbath bears this mark of a divine origin 
 as distinctly as any of the laws of the natural world. 
 And yet, after the experience of nearly six thousand 
 years, there are not a few, even in Christian lands, who 
 feel as if it matters little whether the Sabbath is pro- 
 faned or kept sacred ; who would, rather from a regard 
 to decency and education, than because any great con- 
 sequence is attached to the institution, pay an outward 
 respect to the Sabbath. They see not what wonderful 
 influence on the condition of men, resting one day in 
 seven can exert. A thing so simple, surely cannot, as 
 they conceive, make much difference in human affairs. 
 
70 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 Another consideration would lead us to ascribe the 
 institution of the Sabbath to a divine origin. If, one 
 day in seven, the restless deep were invariably calm ; 
 if, one day in seven, it owned not the influences of the 
 sun, nor raised its tides at the bidding of the moon ; if, 
 one day in seven, no wind ruffled its surface, and no 
 wave rippled along its shore, we should not hesitate to 
 ascribe it to the ordinance of heaven. And who, but 
 God, could say to the tide of worldliness, setting in with 
 full flood upon the human race, when it reaches the 
 boundary of the seventh day — " Hitherto shalt thou 
 come, but no further ; and here shall thy proud waves 
 be stayed ?" Would avarice voluntarily cease to count 
 his gold, and break off from the pursuit of wealth, one 
 day in seven? Would the tyrant unloose the yoke 
 from his slaves, and bid them rest from their labors, one 
 day in seven ? Would the oppressor raise his heavy 
 hand from the feeble, and tell them to cease their sigh- 
 ing and dry their tears, one day in seven ? The Sab- 
 bath was made for man, but most evidently man 
 never made it. There is not benevolence, — there is 
 not disinterestedness, — there is not wisdom enough in 
 his bosom, to originate the Sabbath. It bears the marks 
 of divinity ; it most manifestly came down from above. 
 Man, after all the blessings which the Sabbath bestows, 
 says often, " Away with it from the earth ;" and he 
 would never have voluntarily surrendered himself to its 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 71 
 
 dominion, one seventh portion of his life. The Sabbath, 
 then, by the very fact of its existence, testifies to a di- 
 vine origin ; and is an evidence which I know not how 
 to refute, that " verily there is a God who judgeth in the 
 earth." 
 
 When we open the volume of inspiration, our theory 
 of the divine origin of the Sabbath is fully established. 
 It finds an early place on the sacred record ; and the 
 arrangement of the skilful and mighty Architect, by 
 which six days were spent in rearing and adorning and 
 furnishing our world, was evidently adopted in refer- 
 ence to the consecration of one day in seven for the 
 Sabbath. " And on the seventh day God ended his 
 work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh 
 day from all his work which he had made. And God 
 blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ; because that 
 in it he had rested from all his work which God created 
 and made." With the institution of marriage, the in- 
 stitution of the Sabbath stands pre-eminent, as dating its 
 origin before the earth was marred by sin, and the 
 beauty and the glory had fled. It has flowed down to 
 our age, a broad and peaceful river, fertilizing wherev- 
 er it rolls its waters, and drawing its sources from the 
 Paradise of God, and from beneath the branches of the 
 tree of life. 
 
 Were the occasion as proper as the place, it would 
 delight the speaker to dwell on the influences of the 
 
72 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 Sabbath in preparing men for heaven. But I forbear, 
 and with the remark that like godliness, of which it is 
 the great promoter, the Sabbath has the promise of the 
 life that now is, as well as of that which is to come, I 
 turn to attempt an illustration of its 
 
 TEMPORAL BENEFITS. 
 
 These benefits are either Physical, Intellectual, or 
 Civil. 
 
 1. I begin with the Physical benefits of the Sab- 
 hath — by which I intend the influence of the Sabbath 
 on the body. 
 
 The primitive idea of the Sabbath is rest from labor. 
 Thus at its institution it is said, " God rested from alt 
 his work which he had made" — and this is given as a 
 reason for appointing a Sabbath, or rest, for man. 
 
 Mere spirit, so far as our knowledge extends, needs 
 no rest. We speak indeed of the flagging of mind — of 
 the weariness of mind — of the exhaustion of mind ; — 
 but this flagging, this weariness, this exhaustion of the 
 mind results, as we suppose, from its connexion with the 
 body. The organs of the body through which it acts, 
 flag, grow weary, are exhausted, — and the effect is felt 
 by the mind. We need rest because we are compounded 
 of matter and spirit. He who made man, was aware of 
 the influence of matter on mind, and provided for all the 
 exigencies of the case. A sort of minor Sabbath was 
 appointed for the repose of the body, every day. Al- 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 73 
 
 most all the organs by which the various functions of 
 the body are performed, sleep some time during the 
 twenty-four hours. All the organs, indeed, unless we 
 except those whose unremitted labor is necessary for the 
 preservation of life, have their daily periods of repose. 
 Man must respire, to live — and the blood must circulate 
 or he w T ill die. And the organs that perform these func- 
 tions, must be continually on the alert. It is supposed 
 by physiologists that the different muscles of the body, 
 relax or sleep, some sooner and some later than the oth- 
 ers. When only a part are relaxed or cease to act, then 
 we enjoy only partial sleep. When they are all relax- 
 ed or cease action, at the same time, this constitutes 
 general sleep. By artificial, external stimulants, or by 
 powerful mental excitement, the organs of the body can 
 be made to prolong their period of action — to put off 
 their period of repose. But there are limits even to this, 
 and it cannot be done without a reaction. The laws 
 which God has stamped upon our physical nature, can- 
 not be violated without incurring a penalty. — He who 
 often disregards that minor Sabbath to which every 
 twenty-four hours the organs of the body have a right, 
 will certainly pay the forfeit. 
 
 But in addition to this daily rest, it seems that the 
 
 Maker of the mind and body knew further repose was 
 
 necessary. He therefore devcted to this purpose, or at 
 
 least to cessation from ordinary and unnecessary labors, 
 
 7 
 
74 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 one day in seven. And I apprehend exact and extend- 
 ed observation would show, that this rest of the organs 
 of the body from excessive toil, one day in seven, is as 
 necessary for the highest health and the most vigorous 
 exercise of the physical powers, as their daily repose is. 
 The effect of violating this law may not be so soon per- 
 ceptible — it may not be so immediately hurtful — it may 
 not be so injurious to the body, and yet it may be as 
 real as the effect of violating that law which demands 
 daily repose. From the multitude of causes which may 
 conspire to produce any given effect, it will always be 
 difficult to determine, with precision, the influence of 
 the violation of the Sabbath on the physical powers. 
 We may ascribe the effects of other causes to violations 
 of the Sabbath, and the effects of violating the Sabbath 
 to other causes. But unless the Sabbath is necessary 
 for the repose of the physical powers — unless some rest 
 is needed by these powers in addition to that which, in 
 ordinary circumstances, they enjoy daily, why did the 
 divine command include beasts that labor, as well as 
 men ? " Thou shalt not do any work — thou — nor thy 
 cattle" The moral and intellectual benefits of the Sab- 
 bath can be enjoyed only by moral agents ; — bodily 
 repose, then, is the only possible reason why a Sab- 
 bath was secured to beasts that labor. The necessity 
 for this is found in the laws which regulate their phy- 
 sical nature — as facts which I need not here adduce, 
 plainly show. 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 75 
 
 The laws which regulate the physical powers of man, 
 require the same repose. I might appeal to individual 
 facts, but as some may regard these as inconclusive, 
 I will limit myself to evidence of a more general nature. 
 " Writers on slavery say that the incessant toil to which 
 slaves are driven, especially in the West Indies, by being 
 compelled to labor on the Sabbath for their own sup- 
 port, after having labored all the other six days for their 
 masters, is the occasion of their short lives and feeble 
 health, even in a climate which is decidedly favorable 
 to them." I find it stated that " It was ascertained in 
 France, by experiment, that the labor of nine days, 
 instead of six, increased the exhaustion of man, and 
 diminished the aggregate amount of labor." This is an 
 important fact in its bearings on the physical influences 
 of the Sabbath. That nation, it will be remembered, 
 during the revolution near the close of the last century, 
 discarded the Christian Sabbath, and divided the week 
 into decades. Of course, men would labor nine days 
 instead of six, before the Sabbath intervened to refresh 
 their weary powers. The experiment will probably 
 never be tried on a larger scale, or in circumstances 
 which will promise a faker result. In the case before 
 us, a nation of about 30,000,000 made the experiment, 
 and the result is stated to be, that resting one day in ten 
 instead of one day in seven, increased the exhaustion of 
 the body, and diminished the amount of labor. This is 
 
76 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 just what might have been predicted from the divine 
 limitation of rest to one day in seven. " God has set 
 bounds to muscular effort, which it cannot pass/' and the 
 ordinance of heaven will maintain its place, however 
 men may vary their institutions and legislate away the 
 Sabbath. In the experiment of infidel and revolutiona- 
 ry France, we have evidence which must convince the 
 incredulous, that all taxation of the physical powers be- 
 yond the demands of the six successive days which God 
 has allotted to labor, ends in nervous prostration and in 
 a diminution of human strength. 
 
 The distinguished Dr. Rush remarks, " If there were 
 no hereafter, individuals and societies would be great 
 gainers by attending public worship every Sunday. — 
 Rest from labor in the house of God winds up the 
 machine of both sold and body, better than any thing 
 else, and thereby invigorates it for the labors and du- 
 ties of the ensuing week." — Dr. Spurzheim, in a work 
 published since his death, remarks, " The cessation of 
 labor one day in seven, contributes to the preservation 
 of health, and to the restoration of the bodily pow- 
 ers y — a j n addition to the nightly intervention of sleep," 
 says the North American Review, " the preservation of 
 a sound, healthy, active and cheerful condition of our 
 nature, requires an occasional suspension of labor for 
 longer periods ; and it was, doubtless, in the kind view 
 of accommodating his commands to the constitution 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 77 
 
 which he had given us, that the Creator prescribed the 
 observance of a weekly day of rest." 
 
 The testimony of Dr. Farre, an eminent physician of 
 London, given, a few months ago, before a committee 
 of the British House of Commons charged with enquir- 
 ing into the observance of the Sabbath, is very explicit 
 on its physical influences. Some of the most distin- 
 guished members of Parliament were on the committee, 
 and the examination was extremely thorough. Dr. F. 
 has practised as a physician between thirty and forty 
 years. 
 
 The committee enquire, " Have you had occasion to 
 observe the effect of the observance and non-observance 
 of the seventh day of rest during that time ?" " I have. 
 I have been in the habit, during a great many years, of 
 considering the uses of the Sabbath, and. of observing 
 its abuse. The abuses are chiefly manifested in labor 
 and dissipation. The use, medically speaking, is that 
 of a day of rest. In a theological sense, it is a holy rest, 
 providing for the introduction of new and sublimer ideas 
 into the mind of man, preparing him for his future state. 
 As a day of rest, I view it as a day of compensation for 
 the inadequate restorative power of the body under con- 
 tinued labor and excitement. A physician always has 
 respect to the preservation of the restorative power, be- 
 cause if once this be lost, his healing office is at an end. 
 If I show you, from the physiological view of the ques- 
 
 V 
 
78 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 tion, that there are provisions in the laws of nature 
 which correspond with the divine commandment, you 
 will see from the analogy, that ■ the Sabbath was made 
 for man,' as a necessary appointment. A physician is 
 anxious to preserve the balance of circulation, as neces- 
 sary to the restorative power of the body. The ordinary 
 exertions of man run down the circulation every day of 
 his life, and the first general law of nature by which 
 God (who is not only the giver, but also the preserver 
 and sustainer of life,) prevents man from destroying 
 himself, is the alternating of day with night, that repose 
 may succeed action. But although the night appa- 
 rently equalizes the circulation well, yet it does not suffi- 
 ciently restore its balance for the attainment of a long 
 life. Hence one day in seven, by the bounty of Provi- 
 dence, is thrown in as a day of compensation, to perfect 
 by its repose the animal system. You may easily de- 
 termine this question as a matter of fact by trying it on 
 beasts of burden. Take that fine animal, the horse, 
 and work him to the full extent of his powers every 
 day in the week, or give him rest one day in seven, and 
 you will soon perceive, by the superior vigor with which 
 he performs his functions on the other six days, that 
 this rest is necessary to his well-being. Man, 2^ossess- 
 ing a superior nature, is borne along by the very vi- 
 gor of his mind, so that the injury of continued di- 
 urnal exertion and excitement on his animal system 
 
OF THE SAEBATH. 79 
 
 is not so immediately apparent as it is in the brute ; 
 but in the long run he breaks down more suddenly : 
 it abridges the length of his life and that vigor of 
 his old age, which (as to mere animal poiver) ought 
 to be the object of his preservation. I consider there- 
 fore, that, in the bountiful provision of Providence for 
 the preservation of human life, the Sabbatical appoint- 
 ment is not, as it has been sometimes theologically 
 viewed, simply a precept partaking of the nature of a 
 political institution, but that it is to be numbered 
 amongst the natural duties, if the preservation of life be 
 admitted to be a duty." 
 
 In another part of his examination the committee 
 say, " Therefore, to all men, of whatever class, who 
 must necessarily be occupied six days in the week, you 
 recommend them to abstain on the seventh, and in the 
 course of life they would gain by it ?" He replies, " As- 
 suredly they would, by giving to their bodies the repose, 
 and to their minds the change of ideas suited to the day, 
 for which it was appointed by unerring wisdom." 
 
 Dr. P. further states, that he finds it necessary to 
 his own well-being to abridge labor on the Sabbath to 
 what is actually necessary ; that he has frequently ob- 
 served the premature death of medical men from con- 
 tinued exertion ; that he has seen many clergymen 
 destroyed by their duties on the Sabbath ; and that it 
 forms a continual prescription of his, to advise " the 
 
80 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 clergyman, in lieu of the Sabbath, to rest one day in 
 the week." 
 
 It has been objected to this claim for the foundation of 
 the law of the Sabbath in our physical nature, that men 
 would not need the repose of the Sabbath, if they con- 
 formed to the laws which regulate their bodily and men- 
 tal faculties. It is said to be from a violation of these 
 laws that more rest is required than is furnished by the 
 natural relaxation of the bodily organs. And in proof, 
 the case of beasts, and birds and insects, that have no 
 Sabbath, and need none, is adduced. We might reply, 
 that some beasts and birds and insects are inactive 
 during a considerable portion of the year, and of course 
 here is a compensation for rest one day in seven. The 
 bee labors hard during summer, and so does the ant ; 
 but winter brings them a season of repose. A better 
 reply, however, and one which, in connexion with the 
 preceding, goes the whole length of the case, is, that 
 man has powers to which beasts and birds and insects 
 do not even approach. He has faculties and desires 
 that impel him to action, which, without intervening 
 rest, his body could not long endure. He combats with 
 hunger, and with cold, and with watchfulness, and with 
 fatigue, in pressing forward to the attainment of his 
 wishes. Beasts,, and birds, and insects, on the other 
 hand, are moved only by the wants of their physical 
 nature. In their case, one law balances another. 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 81 
 
 When hungry or thirsty, they make the efforts neces- 
 sary for present relief, if nature does not, with louder 
 tone, demand rest. These tenants of the wilds and of 
 the clouds, that have neither store-house nor barn, are 
 not tormented to fatal efforts by the love of gain, or by 
 the fear of future penury. The midnight vigils of the 
 miser, watching his heaps of gold, and of the politician, 
 weaving his artful intrigues, exhaust not the beasts of 
 the field and the fowls of the air. Their case, therefore, 
 has no analogy to that of man. 
 
 The objector further says, that, in a savage state, men 
 need no more rest than is furnished by the natural re- 
 laxation of the bodily organs from action ; and this 
 shows that the law of the Sabbath is not founded in our 
 physical constitution. But we reply, that it is evident, 
 beyond a doubt, that the Maker of man destined him 
 for a state of civilized society and refinement. This is 
 required for the perfect developement of his pow T ers. 
 We can argue, therefore, no more conclusively from the 
 wants of man in a savage state, than from the wants of 
 wild beasts, what he requires for the vigorous action of 
 his system in the excitements of intellectual and refined 
 life. This is the state for which he is most manifestly 
 designed ; this is the state to which it is his duty to as- 
 pire ; and this is the state to which he is most certainly 
 tending. It is, therefore, proper to term the law of the 
 Sabbath, w T hich experiment show r s to be essential to the 
 
82 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 healthy action of his system, in this state, a law of his 
 physical nature. 
 
 The principle for which I here contend, is not, then, 
 a theological dogma — nor a visionary hypothesis — nor a 
 wild conjecture ; — it stands on the solid ground of experi- 
 ment ; it rests on the same foundation as the principles 
 of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy — the firm basis 
 of an induction of facts. You might as rationally ex- 
 pect to come forth, harmless, from the heat of a glowing 
 furnace, as habitually to ply your ordinary labors on the 
 Sabbath without hurt. The injury is as sure, though 
 I do not say it is as speedy. And from this very cir- 
 cumstance, some may be incredulous in regard to this 
 part of the subject. Because the punishment and the 
 offence are not coeval, some may feel that the penalty 
 either does not exist, or will never be executed. But 
 men violate other laws of their physical nature with 
 present impunity. The firm constitution of the glutton 
 or the wine-bibber may for years resist, and resist with 
 apparent success, the baneful influence of an indulgence 
 of appetite. They may feel as high in health and as 
 vigorous in intellect as their more temperate neighbors ; 
 and may laugh at dietetics and ridicule the laws of so- 
 briety. But soon or ,late they will find it is no safer 
 to violate the laws of our physical than of our moral 
 nature. Retribution may come tardy — it may come 
 noiseless — but come it will ; and the glutton, and the 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 83 
 
 drunkard, and the Sabbath-breaker with them, will 
 know by their own bitter experience, that though it has 
 " a foot of velvet," it has also " a hand of steel." 
 
 And may I be indulged in another remark, which 
 grows directly out of this view of the subject. Nothing 
 is gained by the man who habitually works on the 
 Sabbath. He may, if that is any privilege, labor fifty- 
 two days in a year more than his neighbor, who obeys 
 the dictates of his physical nature — to say nothing of 
 the divine command. But he will accomplish no more 
 than his neighbor. What he gains in time he will lose 
 in vigor ; and if the providence of the God of the Sab- 
 bath should not directly blast his efforts, the law of his 
 physical nature would render his labor on that day 
 worse than useless. He would, literally, " weary him- 
 self for very vanity." " We have no hesitation," re- 
 marks the North American Review, in reference to the 
 Sabbath, " in saying that we believe labor becomes 
 more instead of less productive, by an occasional sus- 
 pension." 
 
 Is it then a hardship, or is it not, for men to rest from 
 their toils — to retire from their farms — to shut up their 
 stores and their shops one day in seven ? Suppose it 
 could be announced from the skies, that the Moral 
 Governor of the world, in compassion to his subjects, 
 would provide as well for those who should labor only 
 five days in the week, as for those who labor six, would 
 
84 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 it be thought a hardship not to work six days instead of 
 five ? Who loves labor, for its own sake, so well as to 
 pursue his toils when nothing is to be gained by it? 
 But the case of the Sabbath is even stronger than this, 
 if the principle which I have advanced is correct, for 
 nothing is gained, but something is lost, by not yield- 
 ing to the demands of our physical nature, w T hich re- 
 quires rest from our ordinary occupations on the Sab- 
 bath. 
 
 I cannot forbear to remark, again, that the Sabbath 
 is, emphatically, the working marts friend. The rich 
 might contrive to get along comfortably without the 
 Sabbath, so far as respects its physical influences. Their 
 muscles and sinews and intellect are not exhausted by 
 incessant labor, during the six days, and they could 
 better dispense with the repose which the Sabbath 
 brings to the weary. Were the Sabbath to be blotted 
 out of existence, they might easily secure, on other days, 
 that cessation from labor which the Sabbath now af- 
 fords. But blot out the Sabbath, and when shall the 
 poor cease from their labors ? Never. Life would be 
 one endless round of toil, from which the wretched 
 might be glad to escape even through the gates of 
 annihilation. The working man — whether he works 
 with his hands or with his mind — who despises the 
 Sabbath, who tramples on its requirements, is guilty of 
 a suicidal act. He casts away his fairest inheritance. 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 85 
 
 Let the luxurious, who are tired of inaction, and melan- 
 choly for want of employment, think the Sabbath an 
 insupportable weariness ; but let the working man know 
 his own interest, and regard his own interest, too well 
 to part with his birthright only with his life. The 
 Sabbath bears in its hands blessings for laborers, for the 
 loss of which nothing on earth can compensate. In 
 vain they gather around the constitution of their coun- 
 try, and with their own bodies form a living barrier 
 between it and the machinations of demagogues, or the 
 force of despots, if they yield up that Magna Charta of 
 their rights which was given to our first father, when 
 he stood forth in innocence amid the freshness and 
 beauty of a new-born world.* 
 
 2. I pass now to the Intellectual benefits of the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 By this I intend that influence which the rest of the 
 Sabbath, with its appropriate duties, has on the opera- 
 tions of the mind. 
 
 * The very heathen observed the Sabbath. Hesiod says, " The seventh 
 day is holy." "Homer and Callimachus give it the same title." Por- 
 phyry, a bitter enemy of Christianity, says — " The Phenicians consecrated 
 one day in seven as holy." Lucian, who sneered at all religion, says — 
 " The seventh day is given to school boys as a holy day." Josephus says, 
 " No city of Greeks or barbarians can be found, which does not acknow- 
 ledge a seventh-day's rest from labor." — Vide Dwight's Theology, vol. iv 
 p. 45, and Gurney on the Sabbath, chap. i. We doubt not that this obser- 
 vance of the seventh day came down by tradition from Noah, and they 
 probably continued it without any regard to its moral uses, though they 
 may possibly have had some faint conception of its phvsical benefits. 
 
 8 
 
86 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 The mind, from its connexion with the body, needs 
 its periods of relaxation. This is a truth known to 
 every one. It is implied in the arrangements made 
 for securing periods of repose, in schools of almost every 
 grade. In our Colleges and Universities, from one 
 quarter to one sixth of the year is given up to vacations. 
 Experience has proved that students cannot, with profit, 
 press forward in their literary race, without more rest 
 than is obtained from nightly slumbers, and even from 
 the Sabbath. The mind, if urged to long continued 
 and close thought, sometimes loses its tone ;-the balance 
 among its powers is destroyed, the judgment is impaired, 
 and imagination gains the ascendency. The editor of 
 the Journal of Health remarks, that " During the period 
 of study and mental exertion generally, the brain is the 
 part excited ; blood flows to it with greater rapidity, and 
 in larger quantity than before. There is increase of 
 heat in the part, often a sense of fulness in it. Pro- 
 longed thought, or indulgence in powerful mental emo- 
 tions, beyond clue limits, fatigues the brain ; and if rest 
 be denied, inflames it ; makes it a permanent centre for 
 afflux of blood ; and the individual is tormented with 
 continued wakefulness, spectral illusions, hallucinations, 
 delirium, and even confirmed madness." Like a ma- 
 chine that by incessant and violent motion bursts out 
 into a spontaneous flame, the mind, overwrought, ac- 
 quires an accelerated action which is the forerunner of 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 87 
 
 a giving way of its powers. u Beattie, after completing 
 his Essay on Truth, from a sort of ' intellectual orgasm,' 
 consequent on his efforts of mind, declared that he dared 
 not read it over." 
 
 Nor does only the student experience this effect of 
 unremitted thought. The man of business, whose 
 plans for wealth — and the man of honor, whose plans 
 for office, engross the mind no less than literature and 
 science, experience the same. Let the man of business 
 fasten his mind on the accomplishment of some plan 
 for increasing his estate — let him revolve it from day to 
 day — let him dwell on it from morning to night, and 
 from night to morning, without the intervening repose 
 of the Sabbath, and he will at length attach a fictitious 
 importance to it, which amounts to an aberration of the 
 intellect, and is in fact partial insanity. His judgment 
 will be warped — and it will be well for him if specula- 
 tions, which he would once have readily seen to be ex- 
 travagant, and which his friends now see to be such, 
 are not the result. If the causes which conspire to bring 
 ruin en men could be fully unfolded, this would, proba- 
 bly, be found to be one of no slight influence. An object 
 looked at long from the same point of view, and without 
 interruption, swells to an incredible, and, sometimes, 
 ludicrous magnitude. 
 
 This principle, I believe, will partially account for 
 some facts which many almost ascribe to a direct divine 
 
OO TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 agency in protecting the Sabbath, and blessing those 
 who observe it. The remark of Judge Hale, so well 
 known and so often quoted, may be in part explained 
 on this principle. " I have often found," says he, " by 
 a strict and diligent observation, that a due observing 
 the duty of the Lord's day, hath ever joined with it a 
 blessing on the rest of my time ; and the week that hath 
 been so begun, hath been blessed and prosperous to me." 
 He says, further, that he never prospered in business 
 undertaken on the Sabbath, or made the subject of 
 forecast or design on that day. 
 
 There needs no miracle to account for this result. 
 When Judge Hale had refreshed his mind by the rest 
 of the Sabbath, and by engaging, as he did, with holy 
 satisfaction in its delightful duties, he came to his busi- 
 ness, on Monday, with well balanced and recruited 
 powers. He took a new view of his employments, and 
 in this way corrected any previous mistake or miscal- 
 culation. The overgrown idea which had possession of 
 his mind, was reduced to its natural size, and exerted 
 on his judgment but its proper influence ; and his deci- 
 sions and his plans, conforming to the truth, of course 
 were approved and successful. So on the other hand, 
 the very state of mind which could lead such a man as 
 Judge Hale, one so conscientious, so observant of the 
 Sabbath, to ponder on unsuitable subjects, and on 
 worldly business, on that day, is evidence that these 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 89 
 
 subjects and this business were exerting over him an 
 influence which their importance did not merit. His 
 mind was not conformed to the reality of things, and 
 judgments and plans resulting from such a state of the 
 intellect, might be expected to be defective and to fail. 
 
 Another fact which is mentioned on good authority, 
 is familiar to most of you. " A merchant of very high 
 standing in New- York, stated to a gentleman of distinc- 
 tion in New-Haven, that he had particularly noticed 
 that those merchants in New- York, who had kept their 
 counting-rooms open on the Sabbath, during his resi- 
 dence there — twenty-five years — had failed without an 
 exception." Now may we not account for this, in part, 
 on the principle suggested above? By dwelling on their 
 business continually — by depriving themselves of the re- 
 pose of the Sabbath, may they not have entered into 
 rash speculations, through an aberration of their judg- 
 ment caused by keeping certain projects and objects too 
 long before the mind ? 
 
 Almost every one knows the effect of a short journey 
 on the views which we habitually take of our business. 
 We look back, from a distance, and find that to some 
 things we have given far too large a place in our thoughts 
 and in our hearts. We correct our false estimates, and 
 return to our posts with rectified judgment, as well as 
 renovated health. He must have little reflection, or 
 more mental strength than falls to the lot of the mass 
 
 8* 
 
90 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 of men, who does not, by a short interruption of his bu- 
 siness, detect miscalculations arising from an undue 
 magnifying- of things continually before his mind. 
 
 The Sabbath has a similar effect in clearing away the 
 mists which blind our judgment; and we shall never 
 know, in this world, from how many foolish and ruin- 
 ous plans we have escaped through its influence. Mere 
 cessation from our usual employments will not, indeed, 
 accomplish all this. The ledger may be closed ; the 
 client be dismissed ; the scientific tome be laid aside ; 
 while the heart still " goeth after its covetousness," and 
 the soul wearies itself even on the day of rest. The 
 current of earthly schemes and cares must be checked ; 
 the chain of worldly associations be broken ; or, as to 
 intellectual benefits, the Sabbath comes and goes in vain. 
 The power to check this current^ to break this chain, 
 belongs chiefly to the sublime and momentous realities 
 of eternity. They disenchant the heart, as nothing else 
 can, of the spirit of gain and of ambition. They drive 
 the " strong man armed" from his castle, and give to the 
 captive prisoner a momentary respite. Were death, 
 then, an endless sleep — were the objects of revelation, 
 which seize with so powerful a grasp on the heart and 
 conscience, only the visions of fancy, by neglecting the 
 sanctuary we should lose half the intellectual refresh- 
 ment of the Sabbath. 
 
 But there are cases which show still more conclusive- 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 91 
 
 ly the absolute necessity of mental relaxation on the 
 Sabbath, especially on the part of those whose minds 
 are severely taxed by the duties of either professional or 
 public life. One of the most striking is the case of the 
 late Marquis of Londonderry, the Prime Minister of 
 Great-Britain. It is stated in the Christian Observer, 
 that he allowed not himself the repose of the Sabbath ; 
 that he did not withdraw his mind from his official bu- 
 siness and cares on that day. Overcome by the inces- 
 sant burden, and the perplexities and responsibilities of 
 his elevated station, he put an end to his life in what 
 was thought to be a state of mental derangement. He 
 took on himself a load which God never lays on his crea- 
 tures, and the apparent consequence was, that he sank 
 under the weight. Dr. Farre, in the examination from 
 which we have already quoted, says, u The working of 
 the mind in one continued train of thought, is destruc- 
 tive of life in the most distinguished class of society — 
 and senators themselves stand in need of reform in that 
 particular. I have observed many of them destroyed 
 by neglecting this economy of life." 
 
 These principles are applicable at all times and in all 
 countries — but especially are they applicable to our own 
 time and country. The present is an age of excitement, 
 and our own country seems to be the very fountain-head 
 of it. Every thing in our situation and in our circum- 
 stances combines to wake up excitement. Wealth with 
 
92 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 us stands in the place of rank, and birth, and merit, and 
 talents. Hence the intensity of desire manifested in its 
 acquisition. Political parties are rife, and the state of 
 our civil affairs often calls forth the deepest anxiety of 
 the heart. Canals, and rail-roads, and steam-boats are 
 concentrating the different parts of the country, and 
 stimulating every power of body and mind to the high- 
 est pitch. Where, then, is the sedative influence of 
 the Sabbath more needed than in the United States ? 
 Where its holy calm more desirable than with us ? — 
 Not here and there one is under the influence of excite- 
 ment — were it so, we could better spare the Sabbath. 
 Nor is the excitement found only in accumulating means 
 of moral and intellectual improvement. It lurks in the 
 haste to be rich ; in the desire to gain office ; in the 
 disappointed hope of the heart ; in the anxiety which 
 watches over favorite plans in progress of execution ; in 
 the thousand risks to which business exposes, and in 
 the ten thousand afflictions " which flesh is heir to." 
 These rush through the soul like a wild tornado. The 
 excitement from books, and from the means of moral 
 and intellectual improvement, are to these only the soft 
 whisperings of the summer zephyr. Do what else we 
 will, we must change the whole face of our country, 
 check the whole current of business, and transform the 
 whole genius and spirit of our countrymen, before we 
 can perceptibly diminish the prevailing excitement. — 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 93 
 
 The returning Sabbath, in a measure, breaks its force, 
 and strengthens men to resist its influence. Discard the 
 Sabbath, and the human mind, left to bear up against 
 the ever-swelling tide of business and care and discour- 
 agement, may swing from its moorings, and dash against 
 the rocks of despair. — An alarming increase of insanity 
 and suicide might follow here, as in France, when du- 
 ring the revolution the excitements were intense, and 
 the Sabbath almost forgotten. 
 
 3. As proposed, I proceed to remark on the civil 
 benefits of the Sabbath. 
 
 Thus far I have regarded the Sabbath chiefly as a 
 day of rest — as a repose from the cares and perplexi- 
 ties and labors of life. We are now to consider it in 
 connexion with those duties and institutions and influ- 
 ences which are related to it. Whether we view the 
 Sabbath as instituted by God, or as adopted by man, 
 important duties have been ingrafted into this day of 
 rest. It is the foundation on which is erected moral 
 machinery of immense power. The worship of God, 
 public and private instruction, religious reading and 
 meditation, are so closely interwoven with the Sabbath, 
 that we scarcely know how to separate between them. 
 And unless we take these various duties and institutions, 
 and influences into the account, we shall fail in fairly 
 estimating its civil benefits. It is not a Sabbath devo- 
 ted to labor — if this not a solecism : — nor a Sabbath de- 
 
94 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 voted to dissipation ; — nor yet a Sabbath devoted to mere 
 amusement, for the importance of which I plead. The 
 first, labor, is against the law of God as laid down in 
 his holy word, and as written on the physical consti- 
 tution of man. The second, dissipation, is equally 
 against the command of God and our physical nature. 
 It were better to have no Sabbath ; to toil on through 
 life without any respite, than to devote that day to ex- 
 cesses which waste the energies of body and mind. 
 Many in our large cities spend the Sabbath in vicious 
 indulgences, and return to their employments exhausted 
 and enfeebled, rather than invigorated, by the Sabbath. 
 " Blue Monday" with such not only testifies to present 
 want of refreshment from the Sabbath, but predicts a 
 broken constitution, ruined hopes and an early grave.* 
 A Sabbath spent in amusement will refresh the soul far 
 less than one spent in the cheerful and inspiriting exer- 
 cises of the house of God, and in the grateful quiet of 
 
 * A large part of this dissipation on the Sabbath arises from paying labor- 
 ers their wages for the week, on Saturday night. A change in the time of 
 payment to Friday or Monday— better to the latter, would, to a great ex- 
 tent, remedy the evil. The experiment has been tried with success, both 
 in this country and in England. " A Society has been formed in London, 
 for the suppression of Sunday trading. They have collected some facts to 
 show the expediency of paying workmen on Friday instead of Saturday. 
 In one of the largest ship-building establishments on the river Thames, 
 where from 500 to 1000 men are employed, the practice of paying wages 
 on Friday has been adopted for some years with good effect." It is much to 
 be desired that this custom should be universally adopted. 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 95 
 
 the domestic circle. Beside, Sabbaths spent in amuse- 
 ment prepare the way for Sabbaths spent in dissipation 
 and sin. And, as Dr. Rush remarks, " Amusements 
 of every kind, on Sundays, beget habits of idleness and 
 a love of pleasure, which extend their influence to ev- 
 ery day of the week." 
 
 Such an observance of the Sabbath as I here contend 
 for, adds an immense amount to the intelligence of 
 the community. I do not mean, to their knowledge, 
 merely, but to their acuteness and 'power of reasoning 
 Any one can readily see the difference which devoting 
 several hours, one day in seven, to reading and reflec- 
 tion, will make in the mind of an individual who lives 
 to the age of forty or fifty. I need not dwell on this 
 point — it is self-evident. 
 
 The science of Theology embraces a wide range of 
 subjects — and one cannot attend on the ministry of a 
 scribe well instructed, without learning much to aid in 
 the regulation of his life, and in the expansion of his in- 
 tellect. The habit of listening to logical and well-digest- 
 ed discourses, has a powerful influence on the faculty of 
 reasoning. The Athenians, who were daily addressed 
 by the most argumentative and logical orators that ever 
 lived, became, as a body, the acutest people at that time 
 on the face of the earth. It is a fact which the observ- 
 ing have long known, that the tastes and the intellectual 
 habits of a people, often resemble those of their pastor. 
 
96 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 This resemblance will be greater or less according to 
 his talents and acquisitions. It will be modified, also, 
 by the abundance or scarcity of other instruction, and 
 other means of information. Yet, after every deduction, 
 it will not be small in any case, where a powerful mind 
 has the opportunity, for years, to mould and form other 
 susceptible and docile minds. We have been told, and 
 we can easily believe it, that in a certain section of our 
 country where the institutions of the gospel have not 
 been regularly enjoyed, for a long period, the inhabit- 
 ants can be distinguished from those of the surround- 
 ing region, by their very pronunciation and modes of 
 speech. We boast of our free schools, to which the 
 poor have access without any, or with very little, ex- 
 pense. But the Sabbath, in connexion with public 
 worship and religious instruction, presents a free school 
 for the poor, where, almost gratuitously, they can obtain, 
 not merely for a short season in their childhood, but 
 through all their days, knowledge which concerns them 
 as much, even for this world, as what they learn in 
 common schools. 
 
 And I must reckon among the means of diffusing 
 knowledge and cultivating the intellect, which the Sab- 
 bath now offers, the instructions of the Sabbath school 
 and Bible class. Leaving out of the account all regard 
 for the future world, and all influence on the heart, the 
 Sabbath, through the medium of its schools, does 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 97 
 
 enough in awakening intellect and communicating 
 knowledge, to compensate for the suspension of busi- 
 ness on that day. The Bible, which is the principal 
 study in these schools, is connected with almost every 
 branch of knowledge. In order to understand it, we 
 need to be familiar with history, chronology, geography, 
 the manners of ancient nations and their customs, both 
 as to the arts of war and the arts of peace, in public and 
 in domestic life. And it cannot be doubted, that under 
 the instruction of a well qualified teacher, and with the 
 books which have been prepared for Sabbath schools, 
 children ten or twelve years old often know more re- 
 specting the ancient world, than many in middle life 
 who would not like to be ranked with the illiterate. 
 
 I know this knowledge may be gained at too dear a 
 price, by overstraining the mind, which has a right to 
 its share of repose on the Sabbath ; but I am persuaded 
 that it may be gained, by judicious management, with 
 no more expense to the system, than by wasting the 
 day in idleness, and leaving the mind a prey to its own 
 energies. A degree of mental action is favorable to the 
 bodily powers. " One of the rewards of philosophy is 
 long life." " Intellectual exercise, of a suitable kind, 
 and carried to a proper extent," we are told on medical 
 authority, " contributes no less certainly to the health of 
 the body, through the sound condition of the brain, than 
 corporeal exercise does to the health and vigor of the 
 
 intellect. 
 
 9 
 
98 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 A proper observance of the Sabbath promotes good 
 morals. 
 
 The bare rest of the Sabbath is favorable to morality. 
 The passions have time to cool. Anger dies in the 
 bosom without inflicting threatened vengeance. The 
 desire for wealth is checked. The meditated fraud is 
 discarded. Reason, which amid the bustle of the week, 
 had been jostled from her throne, resumes her sway. 
 Conscience comes forth from the retirement into which 
 she had been driven by the spirit of gain, or by the 
 strife of party. Temptation is stripped of its borrowed 
 charms, and the hues of vice of their enchantments, r 
 
 But the chief power of the Sabbath over man as a 
 moral being, lies in bringing the government, law and 
 gospel of God to bear on the mind, in circumstances the 
 most propitious. It releases the world from labor. It 
 gathers into the house of God the statesman from his 
 cabinet, the lawyer from his office, the scholar from his 
 study, the merchant from his counting room, the me- 
 chanic from his shop, and the husbandman from his 
 farm. The sacredness of the day, the solemnity of the 
 place, the freedom from care, the breathings of devotion, 
 the soft notes of music, the power of sympathy, combine 
 to open the mind to the sweet influences of truth. The 
 law of God, in such circumstances, is stamped on the 
 heart too deeply to be erased by the temptations of interest, 
 or by the allurements of pleasure. It comes to men 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 99 
 
 with penalties which they neither hope to escape, nor 
 venture to brave. The utmost stretch of human penal- 
 ties is insufficient to restrain the turbulence of passion. 
 There is always thought to be some chance for con- 
 cealment, or bribery, or favor in the judges, which will 
 afford the means of escape. But from the eye of God 
 there is no concealment, and in the court of heaven no 
 partiality. The lawgivers of antiquity were careful to 
 strengthen their statutes by the influence of religion ; 
 and hence, that divine power might awe their subjects 
 into the obedience which human penalties could not 
 secure, they sometimes pretended to receive their laws 
 directly from the gods. Sensible of the weakness of 
 merely human institutions, they sought to support them, 
 by entwining them around the everlasting pillars of the 
 skies. An awakened conscience makes the villain has- 
 ten to unburden his bosom of the crime which for years 
 had been corroding his soul. Can we doubt, then, that 
 the same workings of conscience will prevent crime — 
 will paralyze the arm of the murderer, and make the 
 ruffian a coward ? 
 
 And not only does the Sabbath favor morality, by 
 bringing the heart and conscience into contact with the 
 sanctions of the law of God, but also with the requisi- 
 tions of that law. Human laws of necessity fail to reach 
 many actions of men, which the divine law, in its wide 
 sweep, brings within the pale of its requirements. I 
 
100 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 cannot illustrate this thought better than in the words 
 of an eminent civilian of this state. " Duties are en- 
 joined in the Bible which no human tribunal ever at- 
 tempted to enforce. Courteousness, kindness, gratitude, 
 temperance, in its most enlarged sense ; order, discre- 
 tion, industry, filial and parental affection, forgiveness of 
 injuries, humility and charity, are all beyond the reach 
 of legislative enactment ; but in the Bible, they are re- 
 commended in the most happy manner, and command- 
 ed by infinite authority." We can all see, at a single 
 glance, that these duties which are inculcated in the Bi- 
 ble, and through the medium of the Sabbath are im- 
 pressed on the human mind, involve the happiness, and 
 affect the morals, of every individual in society, though 
 they are entirely beyond the reach of human enact- 
 ments. 
 
 Human laws aim only to control overt acts — they 
 cannot reach principles and motives. Men never le- 
 gislate to check the operations of the heart — as well might 
 they legislate to control the current of the blood which 
 flows from its recesses. But the heart is the chief seat 
 of human action . Here originate those schemes of guilt 
 which burst out and desolate society. H ere dwell evil 
 thoughts and evil purposes ; here they lie in ambush 
 until the proper hour arrives for action. Would you 
 prevent their piracies on the peace of society, you must 
 ferret them out, you must break up their habitations. 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 101 
 
 It is not enough to drive them to their lurking places ; 
 another hour and they may again break forth in all their 
 fury. But there is an eye that pierces this gloomy re- 
 gion ; there is a law that stretches its claims over these 
 habitations of sin ; there is a voice which echoes through 
 these retirements beyond the reach of the voice of man ; 
 there is a tribunal whose jurisdiction extends over the 
 secret thoughts of the soul. It is the Sabbath which 
 gives them their chief power in our world, and in this 
 way raises a barrier against the corruptions of the hu- 
 man heart. 
 
 I am sure my audience will not regard me as obtru- 
 ding upon them improperly a professional consideration, 
 when I urge the purifying influences of the Gospel, 
 brought to bear on the mind, amid the stillness and calm 
 of Holy time. If these influences are real, they are 
 eminently practical, and they eminently appear in con- 
 nexion with the morals of a community. The Gospel 
 does what human laws can never accomplish ; — it dif- 
 fuses in the heart a disrelish for vice. It takes away 
 that spirit of avarice, that love of the world, which is the 
 prime cause of oppression, and dishonesty, and fraud. 
 It checks that ambition which would overturn the state, 
 or sacrifice the interests of others, to build its greatness 
 on their ruins. It promotes temperance, and thus cuts 
 off ten thousand avenues to misery and violence and 
 blood. It cherishes that love to our neighbor, which 
 
 9* 
 
102 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 a 
 
 seeks his good much beyond the demands of merely 
 human laws. 
 
 The Sabbath is the key-stone which binds together 
 all the commands of the moral law. Without it, the 
 whole government of God over men, as exerted through 
 the medium of commandments, of laws, would be pros- 
 trated. It is the sun from which all other parts of the 
 system receive their light and heat and quickening effi- 
 cacy. When its light is eclipsed, the other planets of 
 the moral system are shrouded in impenetrable dark- 
 ness. One after another they leave the human sight, 
 and man is left to wend his gloomy way amid crime 
 and misery and woe. Idolatry soon sets up her altars 
 and claims homage for her thousand gods. Profane- 
 ness rejoices in the growing numbers and recklessness 
 of her votaries. Faction, misrule and filial ingratitude 
 riot without restraint. Murder walks forth unabashed, 
 and scarcely waits for midnight to conceal the work of 
 death. Impurity, " of which it is a shame even to 
 speak," defiles the earth, and becomes a part of religious 
 worship. Theft multiplies, like the locust. Perjury 
 offers its services to every one who wishes to destroy the 
 property, the reputation or the fife of his neighbor. 
 And covetousness, that it may have the means of break- 
 ing every commandment, and gratifying every passion 
 of a corrupt heart, never says, — " It is enough." 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 103 
 
 For a, full verification of these general principles, we 
 must resort to heathen lands — but to no small extent 
 they are verified in lands where the Sabbath is a day 
 for amusement, and shows, and military parade. Com- 
 pare France with Scotland, or compare Spain or Italy 
 with New England. I am aware that general compa- 
 risons on this subject may be deceptive, for other causes 
 than the Sabbath influence the morality of these coun- 
 tries. But then, it must be remembered, that so far as 
 regards causes that favor morality, they are, in nearly 
 every case, dependent for their existence and power, on 
 the Sabbath. 
 
 But leaving general comparisons, look at the ranks 
 of criminals, and see whether you can trace their course 
 to the house of God. Will you find among them, in 
 any large proportion, those who have been taught in the 
 great congregation on the Sabbath, to obey the law of 
 God ? Here we have a test that will not deceive. 
 The former chaplain of our State Prison remarked, in a 
 public address, that in his acquaintance with criminals, 
 which has not been small, of every 100, about 90, if I 
 mistake not, had habitually disregarded the Sabbath. 
 "In the Charlestown Prison, Mass., 256 prisoners were 
 examined, at the request of Rev. Mr. Tuckerman, of 
 Boston, who, among other questions, proposed the fol- 
 lowing — ' How many, before their conviction, lived in 
 a general violation of the Lord's day V Answer, 182." 
 
104 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 And it must be remembered, here, that the number of 
 habitual sabbath-breakers in New England, is yet com- 
 paratively small. But from this small number, probably, 
 are taken at least three-fourths of the criminals that 
 expiate their crimes on the gallows and in State Prisons. 
 
 Judge Hale remarks, " that of all the persons who 
 were convicted of capital crimes while he was upon the 
 bench, he found but very few who would not, on en- 
 quiry, confess that they began their career of wicked- 
 ness by neglecting the duties of the Sabbath, and indul- 
 ging in vicious conduct on that day." Blackstone re- 
 marks, " that a corruption of morals usually follows a 
 profanation of the Sabbath." 
 
 Another proof of the influence of instruction on the 
 Sabbath in preventing crime, may be drawn from the 
 fact that it is very rare to find one who has spent any 
 considerable time in a Sabbath school, among the num- 
 ber of criminals. The Managers of the Prison Disci- 
 pline Society remark, in their report for 1827, " We 
 have never heard of a Sabbath school scholar in prison." 
 In 1829, they remark that " there are very few Sabbath 
 school scholars in prison, in Europe or America." " Of 
 all the pupils of the celebrated Robert Raikes, not one 
 was ever convicted of flagrant crime. Of 500 convicts 
 in one of our prisons recently examined, but three had 
 ever been Sabbath school scholars." 
 
OP THE SABBATH. 105 
 
 So convincing and palpable is the influence of the 
 Sabbath on morals, that almost all Christian govern- 
 ments have adopted it among their civil institutions. 
 
 The Sabbath exerts a most favorable influence on 
 domestic comfort and happiness. The fourth com- 
 mandment has very expressively been termed "a fami- 
 ly commandment." On the Sabbath, the calls of 
 business are silenced ; the laws of fashion are suspend- 
 ed ; a veil is drawn over the amusements and scenes of 
 social life. Society is, on that day, resolved into its 
 original elements, except in the hours of public worship ; 
 and families, reunited and free from interruption, and 
 from the presence of strangers, in the interchange of 
 mutual affection, taste the luxury of domestic bliss. 
 The parent is not tempted, by the pressure of business, 
 to neglect entirely, or to shorten instructions to his chil- 
 dren. The children are not tempted, by the sight of 
 companions engaged in sports and play, to be inatten- 
 tive to counsel, or to wish it were ended. Home be- 
 comes the centre of interest — external allurements lose 
 their power — silence and solitude reign even " in the 
 city full." We lay aside the armor which must be 
 worn in our daily warfare with the world — wipe the 
 dust and sweat from our brow, and rejoice in this short 
 release from struggles and contentions, as the soldier 
 rejoices in the truce which restores him, for a brief space, 
 to the bosom of his friends. Reposing under our own 
 
106 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 vine, we forget the selfishness of interest, the heartless- 
 ness of fashion, and the tedium of care. 
 
 Time would fail me to point out the effect of the Sab- 
 bath on habits of neatness and cleanliness, or to show 
 their connexion with good morals. 
 
 But I must advert, a moment, to the influence of the 
 Sabbath in promoting good order and harmony in so- 
 ciety ', through the medium of public worship. Of all 
 occasions on which men unite for the cultivation of good 
 will, perhaps public worship on the Sabbath is the most 
 eligible. Here they are reminded of their common re- 
 lation to the same Father — here they behold, set before 
 them, the same Saviour — here, too, if ever, they will 
 feel themselves involved in the same calamities, a cir- 
 cumstance of peculiar strength in forming sympathy of 
 soul — here they make common supplications, and look 
 forward to the same heaven, where they must lay aside 
 mutual dislike, and extend the hand that is now reluc- 
 tant, in celestial friendship — here, too, the voice of God 
 echoes in tones which the ear cannot exclude ; " He 
 that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how 
 shall he love God whom he hath not seen. — If ye for- 
 give not men, their trespasses, neither will your heavenly 
 Father forgive your trespasses." And who is there, so 
 hardened, that in the house and in the very presence 
 of the God of love, he dare brood over fancied injuries, 
 or cherish the memory of real wrongs ? The temples 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 107 
 
 of the Lord, scattered over the face of the earth, seem 
 like so many cities of refuge, where our souls may retire 
 in safety, from the prejudices and enmities which disturb 
 our peace and seek our lives, amid the pleasures and 
 business of active scenes. And who is so in love with 
 death, as to throw open these sacred gates, and invite 
 the destroyers of his soul to enter and slay him at the 
 very horns of the altar ? 
 
 Have I exaggerated the soothing influence of public 
 worship on the good order and harmony of society? 
 I make the appeal to men whose business has led them 
 to notice facts of this kind, and confidently ask, if com- 
 munities where the Sabbath is not observed, and public 
 worship not regularly enjoyed, are not more quarrel- 
 some and litigious than other communities ? Is it not 
 where the tavern is oftener thronged than the sanctuary, 
 on the Sabbath, that intemperance holds his court, and 
 passion deals out his blows, and fraud contrives his vil- 
 lanies, and idleness contracts debts, to be paid only at 
 the last hour of " the law's delay ?" May not all this 
 be read on the records of tribunals of justice, and in 
 language which none can either mistake or evade ? 
 
 If the Sabbath is, then, essential to the best exercise 
 of the physical and intellectual powers of individuals, 
 and to the intelligence and good morals of society, who 
 can estimate its value ? And yet who does not know 
 that the respect for the Sabbath felt and manifested by 
 
108 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 our forefathers, is not now to be found ? Is not to be 
 found, did I say ? — I ought to have said, is despised and 
 ridiculed by many who boast of their patriotism and of 
 their regard for the common people. Not a trait among 
 all that distinguished and ennobled our Puritan sires, 
 was more vivid than their love for the Sabbath ; and 
 so long as I can trace the influence of the Sabbath on 
 their institutions, I will not tax them with Jewish strict- 
 ness on that holy day. I can pardon, at least, a sanc- 
 tification of the Sabbath which would now be considered 
 as bordering on superstition, when kings were inviting 
 their subjects to spend the day in May-games and mor- 
 rice-dances. 
 
 We have fallen on other times ; and of whatever else 
 we are guilty, no one will accuse us of an overweening 
 regard for the Sabbath. We are in no danger of Juda- 
 izing in our mode of its observance. We verge to another 
 and far more dangerous extreme. Some now would 
 thrust out the Sabbath as an impostor who has already 
 thriven too long on the credulity of mankind. Others 
 regard it as they would a superannuated pastor, venera- 
 ble for his former influence ; or as a worn out servant, 
 barely tolerated for his past services, whom yet it would 
 not be decent to cast on the wide world, though at 
 present he yields no adequate returns for his support. 
 A combination of powerful causes is impelling our na- 
 tion to abandon the Sabbath as a day of rest and devo- 
 
OF THE SABBATH. 109 
 
 tion. The rapid growth and unfavorable influence of 
 our large cities — the increase of luxury and wealth — 
 the influx of foreigners not accustomed to a strict observ- 
 ance of holy time — the growing numbers that dislike 
 religious principle and religious restraint — a population 
 outstripping the march of religious institutions, and the 
 means of grace — the high wrought excitement already 
 alluded to as springing from our peculiar situation — the 
 running of steam boats and canal boats, and rail road 
 cars — and, last, not least, the example of government 
 in transporting the mail, at the price of the violation of 
 every Sabbath by 26,000 men ; all these and many 
 other causes are combining to obliterate an institution 
 which is as necessary to the existence of our rights and 
 liberties, as rain and sunshine are to the fruits of the 
 earth. For however the strong arm of monarchy may 
 repress the heavings and stragglings of the corrupt heart, 
 virtue only, which withers with the desecration of the 
 Sabbath, can sustain a republic against the rude shock 
 of unchained passion. 
 
 But the brightest glories of the Sabbath are yet to 
 burst on our world. Like the Gospel, its adaptation to 
 the wants of men is more clearly seen, the nearer they 
 approximate to the perfection of their nature. The 
 savage, the demands of whose body are the ordinary 
 measure of his physical exertion, scarcely seems to need 
 the relaxation of the Sabbath. The arts and refine- 
 10 
 
110 TEMPORAL BENEFITS 
 
 ments of civilized life, however, awaken new desires ; 
 and the efforts to gratify these desires, exhaust the body 
 and the mind. The present age is replete with scenes 
 and incidents to stimulate the intellect, and absorb the 
 feelings of the heart. But the coming future shows 
 signs of a wilder sky and a more tempestuous ocean. 
 Prophecy holds out its signals of crumbling thrones and 
 falling states — of change pressing on change, and over- 
 turning on overturning. And science will thicken its 
 discoveries, and art will multiply its inventions, and 
 benevolence will urge the lagging step, and draw out 
 the last energies of the 60ul. Light will blaze into the 
 understanding, and motive will be condensed and con- 
 centrated on the heart, and love will strain every nerve 
 and tax every muscle. Then, the repose of the Sab- 
 bath, which is now regarded as merely salutary, will 
 be felt to be indispensable ; will be anticipated with 
 the impatience of the hireling who watches the length- 
 ening shadows of the evening, and will be longed for, 
 as the traveller in the desert longs for the fountain 
 where he can cool his burning lips, and bathe his weary 
 limbs. 
 
 And the moral influence of the Sabbath, too, great as 
 it now is, will yet be multiplied a thousand fold. Look- 
 ing down the vista of future years, I see temples of 
 the living God crowning every hill — I hear the song of 
 salvation swelling from every valley. The millions of 
 
OP THE SABBATH. Ill 
 
 China are bending over the pages of the Bible, and the 
 plains of India are studded with Sabbath schools. 
 Through the agency of the Sabbath, the law of God 
 quickens the conscience, and the Gospel of God puri- 
 fies the heart, of the world. Who, then, would cast 
 poison into the waters of this river of life ? Who would 
 scatter in the winds, these leaves of the tree of life, 
 which are for the healing of the nations ? Palsied be 
 the heart that could devise, and the hand that could 
 execute, this moral treason against the whole human 
 race. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 ii niiirdirttoi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN US A. 
 

BS530 .H39 
 
 Lectures, on the literary history of the 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library