THE BOOK OF BOOKS.

forbids me to enlarge upon it here.

307

But the argu

ment may be seen in its best form, if those who are curious on the subject, will take the trouble to estimate for themselves, the intellectual and moral resources, and the honour and comfort, of a merchant who carries into his retirement a well-disciplined mind and established habits of reading, as compared with the closing years of another who, on bidding adieu to his Counting-House, is ready to say, with Micah, "Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and what have I more?"

The paramount reason, however, why mercantile men should bestow this care upon mental culture, grows out of its connexion with their spiritual interests; and that, not simply in those indirect methods which have already been mentioned. The argument drawn from the conservative and elevating influence of literary occupation generally, is sound and forcible. But the higher bearings of this habit will be understood at once, when I mention the BIBLE as the book which must of right claim a precedence in every scheme of reading. Regarded simply as a means of intellectual discipline, no other work can be studied to equal advantage. Its themes are the sublimest and the most ennobling which can be contemplated; and the mind which is brought into reverential and habitual contact with them, will grow

rapidly in strength and comprehension. But not only does the Bible speak to us of God: it is God who speaks to us in its sacred pages. And, therefore, while other books may be read, this book must be read. Not to read it, is to contemn its Author. Not to read it, is to miss the manifold blessings, and to incur the fearful retributions, it reveals. There alone is the WAY OF SALVATION laid open, and that question, the most momentous which can engage the attention of a rational being, authoritatively answered, "What must I do to be saved?" Whatever may be neglected then, neglect not the faithful, systematic, devout study of the Sacred Scriptures. Ignorance of the Bible were not merely disreputable to you as men of intelligence: it would jeopard, and might destroy, your souls. And "what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul!"

TESTIMONY OF A CLERK.

309

Lecture Linth.

THE CLAIMS OF THE SABBATH UPON MERCHANTS.

A FEW days since, stepping into one of our great commercial houses, the floor of which was covered with boxes of merchandize awaiting transportation, I said to one of the clerks, calling him by name, "What would you young men do without a Sunday?" "What would we do?" he replied, "we could not do at all. It would be impossible for us to get on without Sunday in the other portions of the year; and not to have it at this season, would break us right up at once. It is indispensable to us," he added, "for physical rest, and a great deal more so that our minds may get repose from this care and anxiety which are so crushing to us. His appearance gave emphasis to every word he uttered. I had seen him at the commencement of "the season," and marked his fine, bright countenance and his elastic step. Again, in the interval I had seen him, and heard him say, on a Saturday afternoon -"I have not been in

my bed until one or two o'clock, a single night this week." And now his cheek was blanched, he had become very thin, and his whole aspect and gait were stamped with lassitude and exhaustion.-I have cited him as a witness on this subject, because while he is a very estimable young man and a most faithful and efficient clerk, he is not, I believe, a professor of religion: and with a certain class of persons, this circumstance may impart additional weight to his testimony. But in truth, it would not be requisite to select witnesses in order to establish the necessity of a weekly rest. You would be safe in going at random into any of our Counting-Houses, or in polling the entire mercantile community on this question:- there could be but one response to the question, "Is Sunday essential to the proper prosecution of commercial business?" This, however, is but a partial statement of the truth. The Sabbath is not essential to the merchant only, but to men of every occupation, and of all climes and kindreds. This is the teaching alike of the Bible, of science, and of experience.

Our Saviour has affirmed it in that much-perverted saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2: 27.) As the word Sabbath means a rest, this language implies that man requires a day of rest. He who "knew what was in man," foresaw that he would need a weekly respite

from labour. Had he been differently constituted, or differently situated, this might possibly have been dispensed with; or instead of one-seventh, some other portion of his time might have been demanded for repose. But as he is, he must have a "rest-day"; and so his bountiful Creator has given him one. To quarrel with the Sabbath, therefore, is for a man to quarrel with his own constitution. And the people who declaim so much about this institution as an invention of "priestcraft," would be more rationally employed in inquiring how and why they came to be created with a physical and moral frame-work which would soon shiver to pieces without a Sabbath. If "priestcraft" has invented the Sabbath, it deserves for once their thanks rather than their maledictions. Let us hear an eminent scientific authority on the subject:

"As a day of rest," says Dr. Farre, in his testimony before a Committee of the House of Commons, "I view it as a day of compensation for the inadequate restorative power of the body under continued labour and excitement. A physician always has respect to the preservation of the restorative power, because, if once this be lost, his healing office is at an end. If I show you from the physiological view of the question, 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