the pious and well-disposed part of the community, to an evil which cries aloud for remedy, and in this reforming age ought not to pass unnoticed. We mean the flagrant profanation of the Sabbath, in the open traffic which is carried on by various kinds of tradespeople, who avowedly pursue their calling, uninterrupted by either secular or ecclesiastical authorities, and in absolute defiance of Him to whom the day is sacred. No resident in London can be otherwise than wilfully blind to the truth of this assertion; for, not content with encroaching beyond Saturday night into the hours of the Sabbath morning, the butchers, bakers, fishmongers, publicans, tobacconists, chandlers, pastry cooks, and various others, (perhaps with some few exceptions in each,) open their shops early on Sunday morning, and are as busy behind their counter-nay, perhaps more so-as on any other day, until the bell for morning service has actually ceased tolling.

Not many weeks ago, I had occasion, in my way to a church at some distance from my residence, to pass through Skinnerstreet, Somers Town; the appearance of which I can compare to nothing else but a market. The shops for the sale of eatables were open, and crowded with buyers. Numbers of stalls for fruit, cakes, &c. (and these it will be recollected are not necessaries of life, even were the sale of such an extenuation of a breach of the divine prohibition) were ranged along the curb-stone of the pavement, and the street was lined by persons of both sexes and all ages, returning homeward with their arms full of the purchases they had been making. They were, for the most part, of the lower class, unwashed, disreputable looking people, and displaying any thing but the cleanly and respectable appearance which any decent English man or woman would wish to present on the Lord's day. The door of a neighbouring public-house was constantly kept in motion by persons entering and quitting it, many of whom were in a state of intoxication. "And is this thy sacred day, O Lord?" I mentally exclaimed, whilst viewing the scene before me." Is this the reverence shewn to thy decrees?— Can the fear of a dread eternity be present to these men, who thus openly mock thine omnipotence, and defy thy vengeance?"

Nor is this the only neighbourhood in which these practices exist. I believe them to be the same in most, indeed, we may say in all, populous districts to an equal

extent.

The shops are ostensibly closed during the performance of divine service, but I

have it from good authority, and indeed the public prints have often shewn the truth, that admittance may be gained even then, by knocking, into many of them, (particularly public-houses,) and commodities purchased.

I will shortly advert to one business in particular, the followers of which seem to be even more busily employed on the Lord's day than during the other part of the week. I mean the bakers. A practice is prevalent among the poorer sort of people, of sending their Sunday's dinner to be baked, and, consequently, the tradesman is employed during the morning in receiving whatever is brought to him for that purpose. At the commencement of divine service the door is certainly closed, but is immediately opened on its conclusion, when the dinners are ready for their respective owners; which evidently shews that one or more persons must have been employed during that time in preparing them, and thus prevented from attending the worship of God: so that even the poor excuse of business being only carried on in hours not devoted to the actual public service of the Deity, is rendered abortive and of none effect.

There is one argument used in favour of this practice, which at first sight appears somewhat plausible, and to possess some weight; namely, that owing to the convenience of bake-houses being open on a Sunday, many persons are enabled to attend a place of worship, who would otherwise be obliged to remain at home to prepare their meals; and thus, at the expense of a few, hundreds, nay, thousands, may obey the law!

But, on the slightest consideration, how preposterous, how shallow and childish, is this: for it is equally culpable to cause others to sin, as to sin ourselves; and, besides, an alteration in the dinner hour would entirely obviate this pretended necessity. In fact, every argument which has been adduced, in impiously attempting to vindicate the indefensible practice of Sabbath-breaking, has its origin and basis on the mere convenience and custom of man, and on his reluctance to abridge in the least that convenience, or abrogate any long-used custom, for the sake of obeying the mandate of ONE, to whose bounty he owes the enjoyment of every terrestrial comfort, and the sublime and cheering hope of a blessed hereafter.

Again. The words of the commandment are, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of

work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates;" and yet we see stage coaches, hackney carriages, steam and other boats, plying for passengers, and pursuing their avocations as openly and as undisturbed on the Sabbath as on any other day; and the former, by passing in the immediate vicinity of churches, disturb and break into that calm and placid quiet so indispensably necessary for the alienation of the soul from earthly things, and the proper performance of christian devotion. Moreover, it is well known, that the proprietors of steam-boats, short stages, &c., taking advantage of the eagerness with which persons escape a few miles from the smoky atmosphere of the metropolis on the day of rest, increase their fares, thus reaping additional profits on that very day on which all men are forbidden to exercise their usual avocations, either individually, or through the medium of their servants or cattle.

Nor are these outward and visible signs of the disregard in which the sacred day is unhappily held by many professors of Christianity, by any means the only instances which may be adduced of its profanation; for the fact is well known, that tailors, mantuamakers, printers, and followers of other mechanical callings, scruple not to devote the seventh day to labour, upon any extraordinary press of business. This practice being confined within the walls of houses, and pursued in private, does not spread its demoralizing effects, as does the open traffic before alluded to; and, though equally reprehensible, it cannot, on account of its secrecy, come under the lash of those whose duty it is to prevent the other; and, by being individual crime, for which the actors themselves alone are responsible, cannot be considered a public scandal. However, it being our intention to confine our remarks solely to those breaches of the Sabbath which, by their open commission, draw down obloquy upon the national morals, and brand our national authorities at once with inefficiency, laziness, and a grievous and culpable laxity of principle, we forbear penetrating further into this branch of the subject; and we likewise avoid dwelling upon the conduct of those persons who, running into the opposite extreme, seem to consider the seventh day as one wholly to be devoted to pleasure. Much might be said upon these matters also, which probably may be the theme of some future paper.

I have conversed with many persons (principally tradespeople) upon this important, though little regarded subject, and

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have been much astonished on hearing the plea of necessity, repeatedly, and in various forms, advanced, in justification of those individuals who continue their daily labour on the Sunday morning; and still more so at the pertinacity with which they adhered to their opinion, and the determined opposition which they made to conviction. For example, it has been said-" A fishmonger must keep open his shop, and endeavour to sell his fish, especially in hot weather, otherwise his property would spoil." A butcher uses the like pretence. "A publican must keep open, because it is necessary that passengers should be supplied with refreshments." A pastry-cook the same.

These are amongst the arguments which have been advanced against me by those whom I have endeavoured to convince that they were acting contrary to the law of Jehovah; and so pertinaciously, so ignorantly obstinate were they in their erroneous, but deep-rooted sentiments, that no mortal powers of argumentation or eloquence could, I think, have weaned them from their preconceived opinions.

I marvelled less at the stolidity of the argument itself, than at the numbers who seemed sincerely to entertain a conviction of its correctness; but, when I reflected for a moment, that personal profit and advantage rendered these worldly-minded men blind and deaf to reason, and effectually prevented them from acknowledging their error, when they must have inwardly felt the force of conviction, my amazement ceased, and I traced their obstinacy to its true sourceself-interest. But how absurd is it to advance arguments founded on worldly principles and social convenience, in opposition to a thesis built upon the firm and imperishable basis of pure morality, and for the verity of which we have the positive and undoubted authority of God's holy word, confirmed by the mouth of our blessed Messiah. Can the preservation or destruction of a few fish, or a few pounds of meat, or the convenience of those persons who wilfully place themselves in situations where refreshments are found necessary for the sustenance of the body, be put in the scale against the ordinance of the Almighty Master of the whole creation, and be found of weight sufficient to overbalance that ordinance, and render it light and unregarded as the passing wind, in the estimation of man ? Surely not.-No sophisms, no worldly arguments, can overturn or controvert that which God hath once spoken: therefore, if men break His decrees, they do it wittingly, and at the hazard of salvation!

But the strongest position which these defenders of sabbath-breaking have assumed, is the necessity of shops being open on Sunday morning, in consequence of the numerous class of artificers, &c. not being paid till late on Saturday night, and thus being disabled from going to market in time to purchase those articles which are requisite for the morrow's consumption. Granted-it is in some degree a cause, though by no means a sufficient or palliative one. Strike then, we would say, at the fountain head of the system-stop at once the source, and, by destroying the cause, prevent at all events the excuse for the effect. Let all journeymen mechanics and weekly labourers be paid on Friday. The evils of Saturday night payments have been often before the public, and the subject has been handled by practical and experienced men, who have, and I think with much reason, deduced a great portion of the profligacy and drunkenness of the lower orders, as the bad effects of the system. It remains not, therefore, for me to add more.

To the advocates of a new plan of payment, it has been opposed, that such a change in an old-established practice would be productive of great confusion amongst the paymasters and employers of workmen. Of this, being no practical man of business, I candidly confess myself incompetent to judge; but, be that as it may, I feel assured that the convenience of one part of the community ought not, cannot possibly form the least excuse for the violation of any of the ten commandments by another.

With regard to those itinerant hawkers who parade about with fish, &c. and disturb, by their clamorous outcries, the stillness of the Sabbath morning, I conceive the circumstance need only be mentioned, to call down the reprehension of every person. These Billingsgate worthies are not even contented with pursuing their avocations during those hours not devoted to prayer; for I solemnly assert, that the cry of " Mackerel" has frequently reached my ears through the walls of a church where I have been attending divine service! On speaking once on this subject to a friend, who joined me in reprehending the indecent custom, he said that he believed they were allowed to cry mackerel on Sunday, because it was a fish that would not keep!! If this really be the case, by whom was the permission conceded? and in whom, I would ask, rests the right of granting what is in direct opposition to the law of God-an interruption to Christian devotion-an abuse and scandal to the church, and an insult to its ministers? What existing being, or

what tribunal, is there, I would be informed, vested with the power of rescinding an Almighty decree, and countenancing that which the wisdom of God has denounced.

It has also been frequently advanced, in opposition to my opinions on the observance of the fourth commandment, that the rigour of the Mosaic law was in some degree abated by the authority of our Redeemer, and the strict letter softened by the milder spirit of the gospel-that Jesus himself considered it no sin to perform an act of absolute necessity, or "to do good" on the Sabbath; and that the Israelites were a "stiff-necked people," and required, from their frequent relapses into sin and idolatry, those severe restrictions which afterwards became unnecessary. But what said our Lord in his sermon on the Mount, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil," Matt. v. 17.

At the same time, we are certainly led to conclude, by the tenor of the twelfth chapter of St. Matthew, that the law of Moses is in some degree qualified, nay, altered by our Saviour; and in one part of the same chapter the Messiah expressly says, when about to heal the withered hand, “Wherefore, it is lawful to do well on the Sabbathday." It will be conceded, therefore, that we have the authority of the Son of God in favour of performing acts of absolute necessity, such as attending the sick, and doing good to the needy, on the Lord's day. But I deny that any one of the customs to which I have alluded is virtually an act of necessity, because, by an alteration of a few parts in the existing system of society, a radical change in the whole, so far as relates to Sunday labour, might be effected, and the necessity, or rather convenience, of Sunday traffic dispensed with. But so it is long-established customs, however erroneous, and of whatever kind, cling to men's minds with a tenacity not easily rooted out, and they look with an eye of jealousy upon any innovation upon old habits, however salutary such innovation is shewn to be.

Thus we have seen that, though we live in a highly civilized country, a country where the king is styled Defender of the Faith, where we have archbishops, bishops, and clergy of various orders and degrees, where the protestant is the national religion, where the ecclesiastical and secular powers cooperate and support each other, and where we have a "church establishment,"-offences against the "laws divine" are suffered to be committed with impunity, and to exist for years undisturbed. Where is the Bishop