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OUR RELATION TO THE DEITY.

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wants and desires, and alike standing in need of the great salva-tion. Men are there reminded, most impressively, of the briefcontinuance and comparative insignificance of the distinctions,which they so earnestly covet, and so inordinately prize. Thesolemn lesson is there forced upon their minds, that, whateveraccidental distinctions they may win, they have all commencedlife, and must all finish it, on the same terms. It is emphaticallythere, that, as the wisest of men says, “ the rich and the poormeet together, the Lord is the Maker of them all.”*

By thus habitually joining in the stated solemnities of a com-mon religious service, the pride of purse, of knowledge, of sta-tion, of ancestry, and of personal accomplishments, is laid in thedust of humiliation before God ; the estrangement and alienationin which the different classes of mankind are accustomed to live,are diminished ; they come to look upon each other with morekindly feelings ; and the decaying sympathies of a common originand a common destiny, and the same ultimate hopes and pros-pects beyond the grave, are revived, strengthened, and savedfrom extinction. It does not come within the author’s province,to advert to the peculiar spiritual blessings, which flow from anattendance on public worship, as his aim is to treat of moralphilosophy distinct from theology. To this last science, thepart of Divine worship, which consists in the administration ofthe sacraments, seems exclusively to belong.

CHAPTER IV.

THE OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY.

The important moral influences of the private and publicworship of God, make the observance of Sunday a matter ofgreat moment in the view of the moral philosopher. In treatingthis part of the subject, I shall, 1. Review the early history ofthe Jewish Sabbath, 2. Inquire whether the institution known

Proverbs xxii. 2.