,transcriber's notes3    ,text enclosed 
by underscores is in italics 7italics74 
,small capital text has been replaced   
with all capitals4             99       
99       99       99       99           
,,the ,,sabbath4        ,a ,,paper      
,,read ,,at ,,the      ,,conference ,,of
 ,,the ,,evangelical ,,alliance1        
,,held ,,at ,,geneva1 ,,september #b4   
#ahfa4        ,,by ,,andrew ,,thomson1  
,d4,d41      ,,edinburgh4        ,,with 
,,preface ,,by      ,,the ,,rev ,j4 ,c4 
,,ryle1 ,b4,a41 ,,christ ,,ch41         
,,oxford1      ,,stradbroke1 ,,suffolk4 
#dcjth ,thousand4        ,,london3      
,,james ,,nisbet  ,,co41 #ba ,,berners  
,,street4      ,,edinburgh3 ,,andrew    
,,elliot1 #ae ,,prince',s ,,street4     
,,and ,,all ,,booksellers4      #ahfc4  
,,edinburgh3 ,,printed ,,by ,,john      
,,greig  ,,son4          ,,prefatory    
,,note ,,by ,,rev4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,ryle4      
,i have been requested1 as an ,english  
,clergyman1 to preface ,dr ,a4          
,thomson's valuable paper on the        

,scottish ,sabbath by a few             
recommendatory  words4 ,i comply with   
the request with much pleasure1 though  
,i feel that  the paper needs no        
imprimatur of mine4    ,i am sensible1  
however1 that there exists a certain    
amount of prejudice  in many ,english   
minds against ,scottish views of the    
,sabbath question4  ,too many           
,christians south of the ,tweed are in  
the habit of regarding our  northern    
brethren as legal1 ,judaizing1 and      
extreme upon this  subject4 ,in the     
matter of all the leading ,evangelical  
doctrines1 they  profess to admire their
 statements4 ,in the matter of the      
,sabbath  question1 they say the ,scotch
 go too far4    ,i venture to think that
 this prejudice is not just4 ,it is in  
fact a  thorough prejudice1 a judgment  
passed without examination1 a prejudged 
decision without any reasonable         
foundation4 ,i believe that ,scottish   
views of the ,sabbath are scriptural1   
reasonable1 and practical4 ,as a  proof 

of my assertion1 ,i earnestly request   
the attention of ,english  ,christians  
to the following paper4 ,my own firm    
conviction is1 that1 in  the matter of  
,sabbath observance1 ,scotland has      
nothing to be ashamed of  in her        
principles1 and ,england has much to    
learn4    ,i can only say that the paper
 which ,i have undertaken to preface    
appears  to me to deserve a wide        
circulation and an attentive perusal4   
,that it is  written in a ,scotch style1
 and is consequently not so well suited 
to our  uneducated classes as a more    
popular and less argumentative          
production1  are facts which ,i do not  
pretend to deny4 ,but there are myriads 
of  hard-headed1 thinking ,english      
readers in the middle and upper sections
  of the lower classes--myriads of      
tradesmen in our great cities1 and      
assistants in our great houses of       
business1 to whom ,i think this paper   
is eminently calculated to be useful4   
,it is to them that ,i heartily  commend

 it4    ,my heart's desire and prayer to
 ,god is now1 and ever shall be1 that   
,he  will bless this and every kindred  
effort to maintain the holiness of      
,god's day1 and to raise higher the     
standard of ,sabbath observance4 ,the   
subject is intimately connected with the
 best interests of the ,british         
churches and the ,british nation4 ,from 
a ,continental ,sabbath may ,great      
,britain ever be delivered6 ,there is   
but a gradual descent1 after all1  from 
,no ,sabbath to ,no ,god4      ,j4 ,c4  
,,ryle1 ,b4,a4    ,,christ',s ,,church1 
,,oxford4      ,,stradbroke ,,vicarage1 
,,suffolk1    ,november #a4 #ahfb4      
,the first creature of ,god in the works
 of the ,days1 was the light of  the    
sense2 the last was the light of reason2
 and ,his ,sabbath work ever  since is  
the illumination of ,his                
,spirit4--,bacon4    ,men should not be 
idle1 but busy on the ,sabbath-day1     
about the soul as  men on the week-day  
about the body4--,wycliffe4             

,,the ,,sabbath4      ,i have been      
requested to make some statements to the
 ,alliance in  reference to the         
observance of the ,sabbath in ,scotland2
 and ,i think ,i  shall best accomplish 
the task committed to me1 by presenting1
 in as  condensed a form as possible1 a 
view of general ,scottish opinion on    
this  vital subject1 some details       
regarding our modern ,scottish          
experience1  with notices of the        
principal dangers to which ,i believe   
the cause of  the ,sabbath in ,scotland 
to be at this time exposed4 ,in doing   
this while  ,i shall have to confirm the
 impressions of many brethren in other  
countries1 there are also some          
misapprehensions which ,i am glad to be 
favoured with such an opportunity of    
dispelling4    #a4 ,it is true1 then1   
that our ministers and ,christian people
 in  ,scotland1 almost without          
exception1 believe in the ,divine       
authority and  perpetual obligation of  
the ,sabbath-day4--,they base their     

respect for  it1 not upon any           
ecclesiastical appointment1 however     
venerable1 or upon  any time-honoured   
custom1 however ancient1 but upon the   
conviction that  it is a benignant and  
unrevoked gift of ,heaven to the human  
race4 ,ask  any intelligent ,christian  
throughout ,scotland1 no matter to which
 of our  evangelical denominations he   
belongs1 on what ground he keeps holy   
the  weekly ,sabbath1 and he will tell  
you that he does this because he        
believes that it was given to man in    
,eden--an institution not for a  nation 
or for a limited period1 but for the    
world and for all  time1--that it was   
republished to the ,jews from ,mount    
,sinai1 not in the  midst of transient  
ceremonial appointments1 but enshrined  
amid the  eternal verities of the moral 
law1--and that at the resurrection of   
,christ1 while the mere day of its      
observance was changed by apostolic     
sanction1 it entered on a new course1   
and became linked with new              

associations--the memorial1 from that   
hour1 of completed redemption as  well  
as of completed creation4 ,and in this  
fact1 more than in any other1  we find  
the secret strength of our ,sabbath     
observance4 ,from the peculiar          
constitution of the ,scottish mind1 as  
well as from the social condition  of   
,scotland1 the ,sabbath would not stand 
its ground for many years were  it based
 upon a foundation less stable1 or      
surrounded by a sanction less  sacred   
than a ,divine command2 and ,i affirm   
with confidence1 that one  effect of the
 re-discussion of the whole question of 
the ,sabbath1 which  has been forced    
upon its friends in ,scotland during    
recent years1 has  been to make the     
convictions of our ,christian people    
regarding its  ,divine authority more   
deep1 more intelligent1 and therefore   
more  immovable4    #b4 ,a second       
distinguishing feature in the           
,sabbath-keeping of ,scotland  consists 
in the fact1 that we consider the entire

 ,sabbath to be  specially and equally  
consecrated to religion4--,the length of
 the  sacred day we believe to be just  
the same as the length of common days4  
,we know nothing of the distinction of  
canonical hours1 as if one part  of the 
day were in any degree more hallowed    
than another2 and all such  distinctions
 we are accustomed to regard as a       
pernicious and  presumptuous tampering  
with ,divine rule1 a narrowing of our   
charter1 not  indeed of inglorious      
idleness1 but of holy rest4 ,but while  
we look upon  every part of the ,sabbath
 as a dedicated thing1 in the sense of  
our  abstaining from all such secular   
employments and recreations as would be 
lawful on other days1 its religious     
exercises are wisely and happily        
diversified2 and in this allotment of   
the ,sabbath's holy work1 very much  is 
left to the discretion of individuals   
and of churches4 ,this  statement1 ,i   
believe1 may do something to remove one 
injurious and  prevalent mistake        

regarding our ,scottish manner of       
keeping the ,lord's  day4 ,were ,i to   
describe a well-spent ,sabbath-day1 such
 as is spent by  thousands of men in    
,scotland who are the salt of our land1 
and the life  and glory of our          
churches--such as was spent by the best 
of the ,english  ,puritans two hundred  
years since1 often leading them to      
confess1 at the  close of such a day1   
,surely if this be not heaven1 it must  
be the way  to it2--,i should paint it  
in some such manner as the              
following3--,the  good man rises from   
his slumbers to realise the fact that it
 is ,god's  day of sacred rest1 and to  
open his mind to its devout             
associations4  ,there is an unwonted    
stillness in the streets1 and in the    
fields all  around him1 which that day  
only brings4 ,the care of the body is   
not  unheeded1 and there is even a      
double attention to cleanliness and to  
taste in his attire2 secret devotion is 
more prolonged than on other  days1 as  

it is more undisturbed2 the family is in
 due time summoned  around the frugal   
meal1 it being perhaps the only day in  
the week in  which they all meet at the 
same board2 kind words and of           
affectionate  counsels are interchanged2
 events in the family history are       
alluded to1  and made the theme of      
edifying reflection2 family-worship     
follows1 and  on this occasion the      
little family choir is unbroken1 and    
sends up its  full-voiced praise to     
heaven4 ,the time has come for joining  
the  companies that are already crowding
 to the houses of prayer4 ,a brief      
interval1 and a second frugal meal      
follows1 and there is another ascent  to
 the temple to worship ,god4 ,then comes
 the happy ,sabbath evening1 in  which  
the ,christian parents gather their     
children around them for  religious     
instruction1 and for recalling and      
reviewing the lessons of  the sanctuary4
 ,domestic affection has time to        
expatiate and grow in that  ,sabbath    

atmosphere2 the ,bible and other        
religious books are read2 psalms  and   
hymns are joyfully sung4 ,mercy joins   
her work with that of piety2  the sick  
and the sorrowful are visited and       
comforted2 neglected children  are      
taught in the ,sabbath-school2          
unreclaimed masses are evangelised in   
the mission district4 ,the family once  
more re-assembles at the evening  meal1 
and the ,sabbath is closed with family  
worship1 meditation1 and  secret        
devotion2 and as the members of the     
household pass away to their  nightly   
rest1 it is felt that its hours have not
 been wearisome or  unprofitable1 but   
that they have in truth been all too    
short for the  blessed work that was to 
be done in them4    #c4 ,it will not be 
wondered at1 after these details1 that  
in ,scotland we  claim the entire       
,sabbath for religion1 not only because 
it forms part of  our most sacred       
convictions that it has been so         
conferred upon us by the  unrepealed act

 of ,heaven1 but also because we are of 
opinion that1  within narrower limits   
than this1 the ,sabbath must ever fail  
to work  out1 to its proper extent1 all 
its beneficent designs4 ,anything less  
than this would be something like       
placing the sun under a partial         
eclipse1 which you yet expected to ripen
 the fruits of the world4  ,suppose the 
period of the ,sabbath to be restricted1
 as some would wish1  to the hours of   
public worship1 and men suddenly to pass
 from business  or pleasure to the      
sanctuary1 and then to pass with equal  
suddenness  from the sanctuary to       
business or pleasure again1 even the    
benefit of  the season of public worship
 would be more than half lost4 ,nature  
in  most men is incapable of violent    
transitions2 it must have its dawn and  
its twilight2 and were our ,sabbath to  
consist only of the time that we  spent 
in the temple1 the world would be far   
more likely to introduce its  corrupting
 and debasing influence into the        

,church1 than the ,church to  send out  
its healing streams upon the world4 ,it 
is no mere theory or  conjecture this2  
for the experiment was actually tried in
 ,england in the  reign of our ,sixth   
,james1 in the publication of ,the ,book
 of ,sports1  when it was sought to make
 games and morris-dances alternate on   
,sabbaths  with public religious        
worship2 and the effect was to          
neutralise the  power of the pulpit1 and
 to deluge the land with frivolity1     
irreligion1  and vice4 ,there must be   
the preparation and attuning of the mind
 for  public devotion and instruction1  
by secret prayer and meditation2 there  
must be the recollection and the holy   
repose of the soul afterwards2  there   
must be the hallowed intermingling of   
deeds of charity with  exercises of     
piety1 and room for the revival and the 
play of home  affections1 if the        
,sabbath is to shed all the good which  
the beneficence  of ,heaven has put into
 it1 upon churches and nations4    ,and 

if there is need for such a ,sabbath in 
any country1 and among any  people1 even
 were they as pastoral and contemplative
 in their daily  habits as ,abraham in  
,canaan1 or as ,moses when tending the  
flocks of  ,jethro1 it is immeasurably  
more indispensable to the intellectual  
and  religious wellbeing of men living  
in old countries such as ,scotland or   
,england1 where over-population has     
unduly crowded the market of labour1    
and given rise to an unhealthy          
competition1 in which men often need to 
strain their wits and their energies to 
the utmost in order simply to  live4    
,nothing will save a people in such a   
community from an undue  mental strain  
unfavourable alike to intellectual and  
moral health1 and  even from being      
wrought in great numbers to death1 but  
the weekly  recurrence of a day which is
 fenced off and guarded by ,divine      
prescription1 and attachment to which is
 deeply rooted in the religious         
convictions and the gratitude of the    

people4 ,there are tens of thousands  of
 our industrial classes1 and even       
multitudes among our men of  business1  
who seldom see the younger members of   
their families1 except  on ,sabbath-day4
 ,and to what a debasing monotony of    
toil would the lives  of these men      
speedily be reduced1 were it not for the
 anticipation of  the coming day of     
hallowed rest1 in which the artisan     
should know no  master1 and the master  
himself should be disturbed by no       
postman's rap  or din of business1 and  
should exchange his ledger for his      
,bible1 and  the hardening influences of
 commercial competition and rivalry for 
the  softening and purifying influences 
of home and of the house of ,god4 ,on   
this day1 our sons of toil stand erect  
in the full consciousness of  their     
manhood and of their heavenly           
birthright2 and shall the day which     
brings such privilege and blessing to   
man be described as a restraint8  ,it is
 such a restraint as the shutting of the

 door of the ark was to  ,noah1 which   
kept the deluge out1 and the patriarch  
safe4 ,it is like the  fence of flowers 
which we may imagine to have been drawn 
around ,paradise  when ,adam dwelt in   
it2 and to many a wearied and wasted    
labourer1 when  this day has returned   
with healing in its wings1 it has seemed
 as if the  primeval curse was          
suspended1 and ,eden threw open its     
closed gates for a  season to receive   
the wanderer back4    #d4 ,it is true1  
then1 speaking of the people of         
,scotland generally1 that  we rest our  
,sabbath observance on ,divine          
appointment1 and that we cling          
tenaciously to a whole ,sabbath4 ,this  
is our crown1 which ,i trust no one     
will ever take from us1 and which1      
indeed1 can only be lost in a  community
 of free men1 by being voluntarily and  
guiltily abdicated4 ,but  in what ,i    
have hitherto said1 ,i have spoken more 
of our ,scottish  principles than of our
 ,scottish practice2 and when ,i come to

 speak of  this1 ,i find myself         
constrained to protest against two      
opposite  representations that have been
 given of our ,sabbath-keeping1 the one 
in  the form of injurious caricature1   
and the other in a style of             
over-colouring that very greatly exceeds
 the sober reality4 ,of all the  bold   
pictures in which certain of our modern 
novelists have indulged1  there is none 
in which they have allowed their        
imaginations a more wild  and           
unwarranted licence1 than in the        
pictures with which they have           
entertained their readers of a ,sabbath 
in a ,scottish family4 ,these  pictures 
have been creations rather than         
caricatures4 ,and there have  been      
travellers who have become writers of   
fiction when they have  touched on this 
subject1 and who have quite equalled the
 novel-writers  in the liberties they   
have taken with the simple truth4 ,one  
writer1  presuming1 we suppose1 on the  
safe distance of his readers from the   

scene which he describes1 gravely       
informs them that in the city of        
,edinburgh all the window-blinds are    
kept carefully closed during the  whole 
of the ,sabbath1 as if to attemper the  
gloom of the house to the  gloomy state 
of mind of its inmates1 and describes   
the little children  as cowering under a
 vague sense of awe1 and dreading to    
indulge even an  innocent smile4 ,men   
who write thus may safely be affirmed   
never to have  spent a single           
,sabbath-day in a religious family in   
,scotland4 ,that the  ,sabbath is in no 
instance presented in a repulsive form  
before the  young1 by their rather being
 told what they are not to do1 than of  
the  blessed work to which the ,sabbath 
summons them1 it would be too much to   
affirm2 for what institution of heaven  
does not occasionally suffer from  human
 handling8 ,but our danger1 even in     
,scotland1 in these days1 does  not     
arise from over-restraint or            
scrupulosity2 and we speak from long    

and happy experience1 when we assert    
that our ,sabbath-keeping in  ,scotland 
is usually marked by a calm cheerfulness
 without frivolity1 and  that on that   
day1 above all others1 streams of       
gladness flow through  myriads of hearts
 which have their secret and their      
fountain-head not in  the exclusion of  
religion1 but in the more complete      
turning of the mind  to religious       
thoughts and associations4              
,then wisdom's self    ,oft seeks to    
sweet1 retired solitude1    ,where1 with
 her best nurse1 ,contemplation1    ,she
 plumes her feathers1 and lets go her   
wings1    ,that in the various bustle of
 resort    ,were all too ruffled1 and   
sometimes impaired4    ,how is it but on
 this account1 that ,scotsmen who have  
emigrated to our  colonies have in so   
many instances written of their ,sabbath
 evenings at  home as among the most    
sunny memories of their youth8 ,and it  
is a fact  of much significance that an 
old ecclesiastical law of ,scotland     

expressly provides that a religious fast
 shall never be held on the  ,lord's    
day1 for this special reason1 that the  
,sabbath was intended to be  a day of   
joy4    #e4 ,on the other hand1 we are  
bound to acknowledge that there have    
been  foreign brethren who have visited 
our island-shores1 that have traced  the
 picture of our ,scottish ,sabbath in   
colours greatly brighter than the       
reality4--,they have only seen half the 
truth1 and therefore they have  only    
told the half4 ,as they have beheld the 
streams of our church-going  people     
crowding along the streets of our cities
 to our numerous temples1  they have    
failed to reflect how even the best     
gifts of heaven1 the  ,sabbath and the  
sunlight1 are the most ready to be      
abused1 and that1 at  that very moment1 
there were thousands loitering at home  
in indolence1  and even not a few1      
perhaps1 rioting in intemperance4 ,at   
the same time1  with all these sombre   
exceptions1 that are necessary to be    

introduced as  shadows into any truthful
 picture of a ,scottish ,sabbath1 we do 
not  wonder that good and intelligent   
visitors from continental countries     
have been impressed and delighted by the
 spectacle of such a day in  ,scotland4 
,these are but exceptions after all4    
,and there is surely  something of high 
moral sublimity in the sight of a whole 
people1 once  in every week1 ceasing    
from their business and their toil to   
celebrate  the great facts of ,creation 
and ,redemption--the plough left to     
sleep in  the furrow1 the loom          
motionless1 the anvil silent1 the mine  
and the  factory tenantless1 and the    
whole monotony of common life turned and
  elevated into a kind of sacred praise4
 ,this solemn pause over the wide       
extent of ,scotland1 seen still more    
perfectly in her rural districts  than  
in her great cities1 strikes us as the  
nearest approach we have  ever known to 
national worship4 ,and we do not wonder 
that all the great  poets of our        

land1--our uninspired prophets1 whose   
work it is to reflect  and to idealise  
our purest national feelings1--should so
 often have  sung the ,sabbath1 and that
 the ,sabbath pictures of our national  
poet  ,burns in his ,cottar's ,saturday 
,night1 though1 alas1 he seldom         
consecrated his great gifts to religion1
 shine as the most beautiful  passages  
in a poem that seems marked for         
immortality4    #f4 ,it is not1 however1
 as a mere sublime picture that we value
 at so  high a rate the                 
,sabbath-honouring habits of the        
,scottish people1 but  because we are   
convinced that the practice nourishes   
and sustains the  very roots of our     
national life1 and keeps pure and deep  
the streams of  our national morality   
and religion4--,it is not the least     
valuable  result of the recent          
discussion of the ,sabbath question in  
,scotland1  that it has served to elicit
 and accumulate a mass of statistics    
demonstrating the close connection      

between the ,sabbath observance and  the
 religious prosperity of our people1 as 
well as illustrating in a  most         
interesting manner what has aptly enough
 been termed the  physiology of the     
,sabbath-day4 ,thus1 if we look through 
three centuries  of the religious       
history of either portion of our island1
 it will be  found that our             
,sabbath-keeping periods have uniformly 
been those in  which the ,church has    
been as a well-watered garden4 ,the two 
things  have risen or fallen with each  
other1 and have exerted mutual          
influence1  as may be seen by comparing 
the age of ,cromwell with that of either
  ,charles4 ,inquiries on a very large  
scale1 embracing all our principal      
professions and trades1 were recently   
made in reference to the moral          
condition of those connected with each2 
and it was found that1 from the         
costermonger and the bargeman upwards1  
the most ,sabbath-breaking were  also   
the most morally sunken and degraded4   

,and our superintendents of  police will
 tell you1 that persons who are in the  
habit of honouring the  ,sabbath1 and   
frequenting a place of worship1 are more
 careful in their  pecuniary            
transactions1 more careful also in their
 language1 more  economical in their    
arrangements at home1 more affectionate 
and humane1  and in every respect       
superior persons by far to those of     
contrary  habits4 ,some who do not look 
with favour upon our ,sabbatic rest1 are
  accustomed to point to the drunkenness
 which exists among a certain  class of 
our ,scottish population2 but it is not 
our ,sabbath-keepers who  are our       
drunkards4 ,some few years since1 the   
moral statistics of certain             
congregations in ,scotland1 including a 
membership of thirty thousand1  were    
collected1 and it was found that an     
average of only two out of  every       
thousand of those members had in the    
course of a year been charged  with the 
sin of intemperance4 ,and what is thus  

found to hold in the  instance of large 
communities1 is equally true in the case
 of  individuals4 ,so long as a         
,scottish youth respects the ,sabbath   
and  frequents the church1 there is good
 hope regarding him1 for he is coming   
under weekly influences that keep him   
right2 but when these practices  cease  
or become fitful1 it is sure that virtue
 has begun to decay at the  roots1 if it
 be not indeed already dead2 and        
,hogarth1 one of our  greatest painters1
 was therefore true to nature and       
experience1 when1 in  his ,rake's       
,progress1 he represented him in his    
first downward step to  ruin as gambling
 on a tombstone in a churchyard while   
public worship was  proceeding in the   
church near at hand4 ,one of the sages  
of modern  infidelity1 ,voltaire1 who at
 one time dwelt on the shores of your   
beautiful lake1 declared that he        
despaired of extinguishing ,christianity
  so long as men assembled on a         
particular day of each week for         

,christian  worship and instruction4    
,and his remark shewed that he had      
discovered  the value of the ,sabbath to
 the ,church2 for public worship will   
never be  common among a people where   
there is not the recognised sanctity of 
a  ,sabbath to preserve it4 ,and let it 
never be forgotten1 that it is far  more
 easily preserved than recovered1 for   
when any portion of its time  is        
invaded1 the habits of a people soon    
shape themselves to the new  order of   
things4 ,a spadeful of earth may prevent
 the inundation in  ,holland1 but when  
once the sea has broken in1 the strength
 of a million  of men may fail to roll  
back its destructive waters4    #g4 ,and
 if possible1 the facts that have been  
supplied by the testimony  of medical   
and other scientific men have been still
 more valuable and  triumphant4--,recent
 physiological inquiries have placed it 
beyond doubt  that man needs for        
repairing the waste of his body not only
 the nightly  repose which night brings 

him1 but1 in addition1 the weekly rest  
of a  seventh day2 and it has been      
noticed that in many of the industrial  
departments1 especially in the more     
skilled and delicate forms of  industry1
 there was a perceptible deterioration  
in what was produced in  the last days  
of the week4 ,travellers on long        
journeys who have rested  the first day 
of the week according to the            
commandment1 have  outstripped          
travellers who pursued their journey on 
the seventh day1 and  have reached the  
end of their journey in far better      
health and spirits4  ,the railway system
 itself1 which1 with all its other high 
advantages1  has done not a little to   
disturb the integrity of our ,sabbath   
rest1 has  strangely supplied us with   
valuable corroboration on this matter2  
for  during the period in which our     
principal railways were in course of    
construction in ,scotland and ,england1 
it was found that the work which  those 
who laboured on ,sabbath executed in    

seven days was generally less  in amount
 and worse in execution than that done  
by sober1 orderly1  ,sabbath-keeping men
 in six days4    ,and the same remark is
 applicable to labourers with the head  
as with the  hand2 for in these days we 
must extend the phrase1 working men1 far
  beyond the comparatively narrow region
 of the industrial arts4 ,the  statesman
 or the barrister who does not allow    
himself the weekly pause  in his round  
of mental labour which the ,sabbath of  
,god offers him1 soon  finds nature     
punishing him for his disregard of its  
great laws2 and  instances are not rare1
 and some of them stand out as beacons  
in our  modern biography1 in which such 
a course has carried him that followed  
it1 in the very noon-tide of his life1  
to the maniac's cell or the  suicide's  
grave2 while many a noble mind has      
retained its spring and  freshness1 and 
has been able to serve its generation to
 the last1 by  allowing the ,sabbath to 
interpose its hallowed associations and 

exercises in the midst of its common and
 absorbing studies4 ,our great          
,coleridge strongly and beautifully     
said1 ,i feel as if ,god1 by giving  the
 ,sabbath1 had given fifty-two springs  
in the year2 and ,isaac ,taylor1  a very
 voluminous author1 and one of the most 
popular and philosophical  of our       
theological writers1 gives the following
 as the testimony of his  long          
experience3 ,i am prepared to affirm    
that to the studious  especially1 and   
whether younger or older1 a ,sabbath    
well spent--spent in  happy exercises of
 the heart1 devotional and domestic--a  
,sabbath given  to the soul1 is the best
 of all means of refreshment to the mere
  intellect4    ,there is a point1      
moreover1 at which the physiology of    
this great  subject touches closely on  
its moral and religious bearings1 for it
 has  been found that physical weariness
 leads to mental lassitude1 and that    
mental lassitude indisposes the soul to 
moral considerations4 ,nor would  it be 

easy to calculate to what an extent the 
recurrence of the ,sabbath1  where its  
hours have been turned to their proper  
and appointed uses1 has  been of moral  
advantage to our commercial men and our 
merchant princes1  checking the fever of
 reckless speculation1 restoring the    
moral balance  of the mind1 and winding 
up the soul1 which the body had poised  
down1  to a higher degree of            
heavenliness4 ,a ,sunday in solitude1   
said one of  the greatest ,english      
statesmen of the last age1 never failed 
to restore  me to myself4 ,facts like   
these1 which might be almost            
indefinitely  multiplied1 do more than  
demonstrate the inestimable value of the
  ,sabbath3 they appear to me to        
suggest1 on their own independent       
grounds1  that an institution possessing
 such wise and benignant adaptations to 
our complex nature1 must have been      
appointed by ,him that made us and who  
knows our frame2 and that while the     
,sabbath was made for man1 it  was not  

made by him4 ,a great writer on natural 
religion has founded a  beautiful       
argument for the existence and unity of 
,god1 on the adaptation  of day and     
night to the physical nature of man3    
might not an argument of  equal         
soundness and force for the ,divine     
origin of the ,sabbath1 be  founded on  
its adaptation to our physical1         
intellectual1 and spiritual  nature8    
#h4 ,but while it is unquestionable that
 the ,sabbath argument has gained a     
large and permanent addition to its     
force from the experience and           
discussions of the last twenty years in 
,scotland1 ,i have already said  enough 
to apprise you that this divine and     
truly beneficent institution  is not    
without its enemies and its dangers4 ,i 
shall be forgiven when ,i  express my   
fear that the increased influx of       
persons from other  countries in which  
the day of the ,lord is less honoured   
and hallowed1  has had some effect in   
lowering the standard of its observance 

among  ourselves4--,i do not think that 
the arguments of ultra-spiritualists1   
who tell us that every day should be a  
,sabbath1 has had much effect in        
misleading any who were not already     
willing to be misled4 ,the device  was  
too transparently shallow to do much    
harm where it had the  characteristic   
shrewdness of the ,scottish mind to deal
 with it4 ,for why1  it was answered1 on
 the same principle1 might it not be    
said that men  should be always praying2
 and that therefore it was unnecessary  
to have  fixed times and places for our 
secret devotions1 and that we ought to  
dispense with the use of words4 ,it was 
noticed1 moreover1 that if things  were 
not sometimes solemnly done1 they were  
likely to be never done1 and  that every
 day a ,sabbath came practically to mean
 no ,sabbath at  all4--,at one period   
the railway system1 which attempted to  
introduce  with it railway travelling   
and traffic on the ,lord's day1         
threatened to  do violence to our       

religions convictions and national      
habits1 and to  introduce among us a    
wide-spread and constantly-growing      
mischief4 ,but  this plague was speedily
 stayed4 ,the religious traditions of   
our  community proved in most instances 
too strong for the cupidity of men  who 
seemed prepared to sacrifice the highest
 interests1 and to trample  on the most 
sacred feelings of a whole community1   
for the sake of a  larger annual        
dividend4 ,the majority of our railways 
in ,scotland do not  run trains on      
,sabbath at all2 and this is found to   
operate with immense  gain to the public
 morals1 with no inconvenience to trade 
or commerce1  or even pecuniary loss to 
the proprietors of those stupendous     
undertakings4    #i4 ,but there is an   
influence at work which has already in  
some degree  invaded our                
,sabbath-keeping in ,scotland1 and which
 ,i fear is working far  more extensive 
and serious moral havoc in ,england4 ,i 
refer to the  attempt which is made in  

so many places1 and by so many parties1 
to use  the day which has been given for
 sacred rest and religious worship1 as a
  day of entertainment and              
amusement4--,picture galleries1 ,crystal
  palaces1 museums of nature and art1 or
 romantic scenes to which men can  be   
carried in crowds by ,sunday            
excursion-trains1 are sought to be      
substituted for visits to the house of  
prayer1 and for ,christian  instruction 
and worship4 ,the argument for this     
insidious and perilous  exchange is     
sometimes put in a kind of religious    
phraseology1 as if  these visits to     
beautiful scenes in nature were only the
 introduction to  another kind of       
worship1 and as if gazing upon the      
master-pieces of  human art in painting1
 or sculpture1 or architecture1         
exercised a  purifying and elevating    
influence on the mind2 and sometimes    
again it is  dressed in the form of a   
spurious philanthropy1 though it is     
found that  those who are the most      

earnest advocates for the ,crystal      
,palace or the  ,sabbath                
excursion-train1 generally expect to    
derive pecuniary advantage  from the    
practice4 ,there never was an argument  
more triumphantly met by  sound         
philosophy1 or more completely refuted  
by experience4 ,there is no  denying1   
indeed1 that visits to high works of    
art1 to objects of  curiosity1 or to    
beautiful scenes in the natural world1  
may at their  own time1 and in their own
 place1 be beneficial to the busiest and
 the  poorest4 ,but those who imagine   
that any of these things are capable1 in
  any degree1 of being a substitute for 
the weekly-recurring exercises of       
,christian worship1 and instruction in  
the great truths of divine  revelation1 
are strangely ignorant of the greatest  
wants and necessities  of man4 ,who ever
 heard of looking upon pictures and     
images1 however much  they might breathe
 with genius1 transforming the vile to  
pure1 the  earthly to divine6 ,it is not

 by such appliances as these that the   
heart  of any man has ever been made    
anew4 ,the fact is1 it is rather the    
sthetic than the moral part of our      
nature that is influenced by them  at   
all4 ,they refine1 but they cannot      
transform4 ,they may form the  capital  
of the column1 but not its base4 ,the   
city of ,munich contains  one of the    
grandest picture-galleries in ,europe1  
and it is also one of  the most         
demoralized and debased of our ,european
 communities4 ,the  brigands around     
,rome were accustomed at the ,carnival  
to visit the  picture-galleries in that 
city1 and many shewed high appreciation 
and  discrimination in judging of the   
works both of ancient and of modern     
painters1 but these influences never    
succeeded in wooing one of them  from   
his life of violence and crime4 ,and if 
the history of ancient  ,greece in its  
decay reads one lesson to the world more
 loudly than  another1 it is this1 that 
refinement of taste may be associated in

 the  same individual and people with   
the greatest debasement and corruption  
of morals4    ,and experience in our own
 island confirms us in the assertion1   
that  these things are impotent for the 
regeneration of a people2 and that  when
 they are engrafted on the ,sabbath1 and
 made the substitute for its  religious 
and proper services1 they tend in the   
reverse direction4 ,the  gin-palace soon
 plants itself around these places of   
public  entertainment and amusement1 and
 finds in them a smooth and fascinating 
pathway to its snares2 and few          
spectacles in our land are more riotous1
  more debased1 more miserable1 or more 
alarming as regards the future of  our  
country1 than a ,sunday excursion-train1
 when it comes back and  empties upon a 
city its pleasure-seekers and           
worshippers of nature4 ,it  is well     
known to masters1 that such men1        
depressed by the reaction of  riot and  
excitement1 seldom return to their      
labours on ,monday along with  the      

tradesman who has turned his ,sabbath to
 its proper and sacred uses4  ,nor is it
 difficult to foresee that if once the  
,sabbaths in ,scotland and  ,england    
were generally given to                 
pleasure-seeking1 they would ere long be
  bought up by commercial cupidity and  
enterprise1 and the career of the       
working-man would resemble that of      
,samson1 first sitting on the lap of    
pleasure1 then bound and groaning in    
intellectual darkness and moral  night1 
and ending his retributive course by    
drawing down upon himself  and upon     
those who had enslaved him the pillars  
of our social edifice4  ,the mere       
animal1 says the late ,hugh ,miller1    
that has to pass six days  of the week  
in hard labour1 benefits greatly by a   
seventh day of mere  animal rest and    
enjoyment3 the repose1 according to its 
nature1 proves  of signal use to it1    
just because it is repose according to  
its  nature4 ,but man is not a mere     
animal3 what is best for the ox and the 

ass is not best for him2 and in order to
 degrade him into a poor  unintellectual
 slave1 over whom tyranny1 in its       
caprice1 may trample  roughshod1 it is  
but necessary to tie him down1          
animal-like1 during his  six            
working-days1 to hard1 engrossing       
labour1 and to convert the seventh  into
 a day of frivolous unthinking          
relaxation4    ,but we believe that the 
heart of ,scotland generally is sound   
and  enlightened on the ,divine         
authority and the inestimable value of  
the  ,sabbath-day4 ,to our minds it     
stands sacredly associated with the     
greatest events in human history1 and in
 the intercourse of ,god with  man--the 
completed handiwork of ,almighty power1 
when ,god looked around  ,him upon the  
young and unfallen world1 and pronounced
 all to be  good--the giving of the     
,divine law from the sacred mount amid  
the signs  of the present ,deity--and   
the rising of our ,redeemer from the    
grave1 and  the rising with ,him of the 

hope of our world4 ,we are a free and   
happy  people1 we have conquered the    
ruggedness of our soil1 and coped       
successfully with our ungenial climate2 
but it is to our religion that  we owe  
our freedom1 for who can enslave a      
people that fear ,god8 and we  regard   
our ,sabbath as the bulwark of our      
godliness4 ,it is our ,tabor1 on  which 
we ascend weekly and meet with celestial
 visitants2 our ,jacob's  ladder on     
which we climb to heaven's gate2 the    
shield and nutriment of  our domestic   
affections1 it keeps the heart of our   
households warm and  pure4 ,it is not to
 be abolished1 but extended2 and even   
when it passes  away at the end of time1
 it will not go out in whirlwind or     
tempest1 but          ,as sets the      
morning-star1 which goes  ,not down     
behind the darkened west1 nor hides     
,obscured among the tempests of the sky1
  ,but melts away into the light of     
heaven4