Syracuse University Library
Special Collections Research Center
Gerrit Smith Broadside and Pamphlet Collection

An appeal to the sabbath.

Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874.

Digital Edition.

This digitization project was supported by Regional Bibliographic Databases and Interlibrary Resources Sharing Program funds, awarded by the New York State Library.

Call number: Smith 700

AN APPEAL

FOR THE SABBATH.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, is the command of that God who spake the universe into being; and when God speaks, shall not man hear and obey ?

The holy Sabbath, in its design and end, is a most merciful institution for man. It is a day for rest and worship. Its sanctification has ever promoted the best interests of communities, while its neglect and abuse have been followed by the judgments of Heaven.

FELLOW-CITIZENS - the spirit of the age and the tide of our prosperity threaten to wrest from us this most precious institution of the Creator of the world.

Our Steam-boats, Rail-road Cars, Stages, and private vehicles, groan on the Sabbath under the burdens imposed upon them by the sons of pleasure. Every place of public resort teems with a giddy, pleasure-seeking multitude. Loud and just complaints are heard from those who assemble in the house of God, that their worship is disturbed, their Sabbath laid waste, and an example most ruinous and demoralizing is set before the rising generation.

Now, let it be asked, can this be right ? Does it meet the approbation of conscience? Is it gratitude to God for his unbounded goodness? Surely every one will say, No. O, how unwise, to throw away, with a wanton hand, the most precious of Heaven's gifts! What can we expect, but that Almighty God, in his righteous indignation, will visit us for these things, and pour upon us the vials of his wrath.

Now, fellow-citizens, who among you is, in this matter, on the LORD'S SIDE? WHO? Who desire the stability of our invaluable civil and religious institutions, and the future prosperity of our beloved country ?

PROPRIETORS AND OWNERS OF STEAM-BOATS, CARS, AND MEANS OF PUBLIC CONVEYANCE - are you? Is not the money you receive in all these journies and excursions the price of the holy Sabbath? Hear the command of the GREAT JEHOVAH - "Six days shalt thou labor and do all I thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates." Can any one say this is unreasonable? and who can expect to transgress this holy law with impunity ?

HEADS OF FAMILIES - Are you for God? Then do what you can, at this momentous crisis, to check that tide of evil which threatens to sweep away every vestige of our dearest hopes, and the very foundation of our safety. Be careful to keep a watchful eye over your children and domestics. Show, by your own example, that you prize the institutions, of your Maker, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable.

MASTER MECHANICS - may we not hope that you will be on the side of the great LORD AND MASTER in this matter? If your journeymen and apprentices feel themselves

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independent of you on the Sabbath, teach them that they are not independent of God; and as they are not beyond control from your example and counsel, give them kind and faithful advice, treat them as you would wish your own sons to be treated, were they in a lend of strangers, and realize that to you are committed their eternal as well as temporal interests.

YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN - to you we appeal with confidence and hope; with you, more than all others, rests the preservation of this blessed institution, and every thing dear and valuable. It is for you to say whether the remembrance of the sacred day of rest, and all its precious privileges, are to be obliterated and for ever lost, or be cherished and upheld. Let virtue and religion be trampled in the dust, and where will be our social comforts and domestic joys? O, permit us, with the tenderest affection, to plead with you. Instead of joining in parties for pleasure on the Sabbath, let the return of that holy morning be welcomed as a day of joy, and find your hearts prepared for the delightful services of the sanctuary.

PROFESSORS OF RELIGION - you have said that you are on the Lord's side, but do you discharge your duty? Are you careful to avoid the very appearance of evil? Do not many who profess attachment to Christ and obedience to God's holy law, think lightly of riding out, or journeying on the Sabbath ! Are not some of you proprietors and directors of the cars and boats which know no rest? O remember that the eyes of the world are upon you; and will you, by your example, countenance and strengthen the hands of evil-doers? Rather will you not raise your voice against the abounding and soul-destroying wickedness which your eyes behold, and which surely must distress and grieve your hearts, if you have any true regard for the honor of the divine government and the everlasting welfare of your fellow-men.

MINISTERS OF CHRIST - you are watchmen on the walls of Zion; continue to cry aloud and spare not. Show unto the people their transgressions, and the house of Israel their sins. Warn them of their danger. Press upon them their obligations, and entreat them no longer to disregard the counsels and commands of the most high God.

FELLOW-TRAVELERS TO THE BAR OF GOD - old and young, rich and poor, masters and servants, one and all - remember that the retributions of eternity are at hand. Our Sabbath-breaking and scenes of dissipation will soon be at an end. Death is at our doors. The solemn realities of the eternal world will soon be unfolded to our view. We shall stand with the assembled universe before the judgement-seat of Christ, from whose righteous and irreversible decision there can be no appeal. O now, while it is a day of grace and mercy, be persuaded to think of these things, and no longer trifle with the mandates of Omnipotence, and madly rush down the precipice to eternal ruin. (1.)