256 Censuring a Class for the Fault of an Individual. [Aug. 1857. CENSURING A CLASS FOR THE FAULT OF AN INDIVIDUAL. Now and then the newspapers ring, from one end of the nation to the other, with accounts of the moral delinquency of some clergyman. Considering the thousands of this profession in the United States, and the temptations the office holds out to designing hypocrites, it is a wonder, not that so few rogues creep into the pulpit, but that the number is not greater. Hardly ever, however, does one of these scoundrels betray his true character, without a cry being raised that the clergy are "wolves in sheep's clothing." Journals, which know better, and men, who ought to know better, take up, repeat, and echo this absurd and slanderous assertion We say absurd, for if there is one thing more preposterous than another, it is to condemn a class for the fault of an individual. We say slanderous, because to give currency to what the utterer is aware is a falsehood, deserves to be called by no other name. With the clergy, as individuals, we have nothing to do, nor shall we make ourselves the advocates of clergymen of any particular sect. of the clergy, as a body-the collective clergy, that is of all religious denominations-we avow ourselves the friends. And we are their friends, because we know how inestimable morals and a love of order are to the well being of the State, and because it is impossible to ignore the influence of the clergy in maintaining private virtue, and in teaching a people to be law abiding. Every church is a centre of light. We care not what the peculiar doctrinal dogmas may be, which are there set forth, the neighborhood is the better for the presence of that church and for the exertions of its clergymen. Nobody ever knew a village to grow worse in consequence of a religious congregation in its midst. On the contrary, the most fair and candid minds confess, that without churches civilization must retrogade, immorality sap the very life of society, lawlessness and anarchy return. A class of men, so beneficial to the commonwealth, deserves something better than to be followed, with a hue and cry, whenever a rascal is detected in its midst. There have been villains in the editorial profession, at the bar, among merchants, and in the ranks of medicine; but does it follow that all journalists, all lawyers, all traders, all doctors, are rogues? Let us be just to the clergy. When we hear of a hypocrite in the pulpit, let us recall the scores of good men, filling the pastoral office, whom all of us have known-men who were foremost to relieve the poor, to console the sick, to administer the last sad office to the dying, to "go about doing good." The world is full of quiet, unpretending clergymen of this description; they constitute, indeed, a vast majority of their class; and it is the grossest injustice, not to say great public injury, to condemn them for the sins of a few of their number.-Ledger. TO MY MOTHER.-Oh! is there aught on this cold earth, As she, who guided me from birth, And stayed my infancy? THE GUARDIAN: A Magazine Devoted to the Interests of Young Meu and Ladies. OUR first parents willingly deprived themselves of Paradise and all its blessings. Esau foolishly surrendered his birthright. We blame them for their folly, and pity them for their misfortune. This, however, was a folly and weakness not peculiar to those early ages of the world. It is characteristic of man to undervalue the blessings of God, and to turn away from them to his own devices. The Sabbath was made for man; intended expressly for his good; but, instead of being thankfully received as a divine and priceless gift, it is looked upon by many as a burden and a restraint. There are still, as of old thought, if not language, of impatience: "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the Sabbaths, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the sheckel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit." Thus to the avarice and worldliness of man, the Sabbath is a weariness; but to those who love its Author and understand its advantages, it is a day of joyful rest for the body, a day of rich food for the soul, and a day of alleviating baim to the heart. Day of all the week the best There is a great difference in Sabbath-keeping in different parts of the world. This difference may be traced to various causes. In the end, however, all these causes resolve themselves into corrupt human nature, which prides itself in despising divine gifts, and which loves to revel in its own self-sufficiency and corruption. In Scotland there is a Sabbath. It is better observed there than in any other country in Europe. The reason for this is, no doubt, to be found in the deep religious principle which has possessed the Scotch mind since days "lang sine." In Germany there is great looseness of thought and feeling in refer ence to the Sabbath-in its principal cities especially. In all places on Sabbath afternoons, in summer time, the avenues to towns and villages, places of public resort, and gardens and parks in the suburbs of towns, are thronged with crowds seeking pastime, company and amusement. The day is regarded partly as a day for religious instruction, but partly also as a social festival, and in some places, of military display. It is not a slander which is often spoken, that the forenoon is spent in church, and the afternoon and evening in dancing, card-playing, winedrinking, smoking and parties of pleasure. The reason of this looseness may be found perhaps partly in the noted catholicty of the German mind, and the free socialness of the German heart; but principally in wrong views of the nature and design of the Sabbath itself. In Poland and Russia it is still worse. In Warsaw, the capital of Poland, says one, there is on Sunday music and parade in the streets by the Russian military--and in the saloons, luxury and sport. In Austria, it is still worse. A visitor says of Vienna, the capital: "In the summer, especially on Sunday afternoon, you find here a motley throng of carriage-riders and walkers out of the whole Viennese population, so that you can scarcely move for swarming humanity. You see the most striking contrasts of men from foreign countries, everywhere in Vienna-Turks, in their national costume; Greeks, Spaniards, Jews, Hungarians, and Italians, who deal in cheese. Everywhere you hear music-hand-organs, military music and harps." The Sabbaths of Constantinople and Athens, are similar to those of the Austrian capital. Those of France, Spain, and Italy are no better. Infidelity, the enemy and Popery, the corruption of religion, have robbed these devoted nations of their Bibles and their Sabbaths, and, as a consequence, of their prosperity and glory. In this country there is also a great difference in the observance of the Sabbath, owing, in a great measure, to the views which prevail in those countries from which the different parts of our land have been mostly settled. Thus in New England, we find the Scotch ideas and habits, in relation to the Sabbath, strictly puritanic. In the middle States, there is more of the laxness of Germany. In the South, French and Spanish emigration and influence have exerted an evil influence upon the minds of the people in respect to the Sabbath. In the West, the combined influence of infidelity and nothingarianism, has been deplorably felt. True, the Sabbath is still there, but in many places only as a matter of circumstance. In this country, fast peopling as it is from the ends of the earth-with people of all possible mental, civil, moral and religious variety, it is highly important that every means be employed to save this sacred day from an impending deluge, and to enthrone it in sacred reverence in the hearts of the people. It is an omen of joyful promise that there is at present considerable attention to this subject among christians throughout the whole land. Christians of every name have waked up in defence of this precious inheritance; and while God says: "The Sabbath was made for man," men exclaim in joyful response: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." It will be in place to call the attention of our young readers to the claims of this sacred day to their reverence and love. Sabbath-breaking 1857.] The Golden Day. 259 has, in numerous instances, been the first step in the path of ruin; and a proper use of its holy hours, has been to thousands the beginning of honor, life and peace. The "Sabbath." The word Sabbath, in the Hebrew language, means rest. The Sabbath is, therefore, a day of rest; as such, it has been hallowed by the example of God himself; and as such, it has been cheerfully observed by the pious in all ages. It was the retiring ebb of creation, when God had finished his works; and it still stands as a solemn pause amidst the vexing tumult of busy life. It is of divine institution. The Sabbath, says our Saviour, was made for man. It was made for man, but not by man. It was God who sanctified it and set it apart for the good of man and his own glory. It stands among those ten commandments, concerning which it is said: "God spake all these words." It was honored and perpetuated by the Jewish nation from generation to generation as a divine institution. Its sacredness and divine right were recognized and respected by our Saviour; he honored its spirit by his example, and defended its simplicity and purity against the vain superogations by the Pharisees, who had made it of none effect by their traditions. To the Apostles, its regular returning light brought to mind anew their Master's triumph over the power of the grave. The primitive Christians kept it in memory of our Saviour's resurrection. It was a custom among them, especially on Easter Sunday, that, when one went out of his house in the morning, the first man he saw he would hail, "Surrexit ?"-is he risen? And he would joyfully reply, "Vere surrexit !-vere surrexit!" The joyful reply was, "Yes, he rose-yes, he rose." Through years of the church's history, it has been handed down to us-impressed with a divine seal, and all christendom still hail the Blest morning whose young dawning rays Beheld our rising God: That saw him triumph o'er the dust, And leave his dark abode ! 66 Not only from the pulpit, and from the theological chair, but from national council halls its divine right has been defended and proclaimed. The laws of our own land recognize and enjoin its observance. France found, by woful experiment, that its divine origin was implanted in the soul of man as deep as the idea of God himself, and that to do without a Sabbath, was just as hard, yea as impossible, as to do without a God. It was but a short time after their madness in abolishing everything sacred in christianity, until they cried as with the voice of one man, Give us a Sabbath-give us a God-give us the hope and the dread of a future world, or we can be a nation no longer!" The Sabbath is truly of perpetual and universal obligation. The Sabbath was made for man: for all men in all ages, and in all ends of the earth. If it was made for man, then its obligations will continue as long as man shall exist. It is not, therefore, like the ceremonial law of the Jews, to be abrogated or superseded by the new dispensation. The ceremonial law was made not for man, but for the Jews, and with Judaism, therefore, the ceremonial law must come to an end; but not so the law of the Sabbath, which was made not for the Jews only, but for man. That it is of perpetual obligation, is also clearly seen in the fact that it rests upon a law of nature in man. It was made for man-man was made first, and then the Sabbath was made for him, as something required by his nature. It was made for him as something which his constitution required even as his body requires food, drink, air, sleep. It has been found by experiment that the physical nature of both man and beast, require a Sabbath. If it is not founded in the physical wants of God's creatures, why does the commandment say, "nor thy cattle?" Surely it is not given to them from moral considerations. Why then? We answer, because physical nature requires a pause in time, that it may recruit and replenish its exhausted stores, in order that it may the better serve the purposes of man. It has been found by experiment that the natural lives of men and beasts, are shortened by uninterrupted labor. In a mental point of view, the Sabbath is equally important, and upon the human mind, too, is its divine seal imprinted, which proclaims its perpetual obligation. As long as mind exists, so long must the Sabbath, which is required by the laws of mind, be obligatory. It has been proved by periment that a violation of this law, destroys, in time, the energiesof the mind, and brings about insanity, or at least imbecility. But, a conclusive argument in favor of perpetual obligation, is found in the fact that it is part of the moniaw. If the command: "Thou shalt have other Gods before me," is perpetual, so, also, is the command, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." They rest on one basis. That it is of universal, as well as perpetual obligation, is evident in the same manner, from the fact that it was made for man-for man of all ages, races, and cligions; for those in the Eastern and Western worlds; for the dwellers on the continents and on the isles. Universal in its extent is the divine injunction: "Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates!" The object which God had in view in the institution of the Sabbath, is a merciful one. The Sabbath was made for man. Its object is to benefit, bless, and comfort man. Some persons seem to think that the Sabbath was made for God-that he secures to himself an advantage by commanding its observance, and that it is in some way an accommodation to God, if we keep it holy. They seem to think that the six days of the week were made for man, but the seventh for God. It is true, God glorifies himself by this as by all his laws; but, while he glorifies himself, he does it by a bestowment of the greatest good to man. though it is to the avarice of men a restraint, and to many a burden reluctantly borne, yet it is for their good, though it be to them a restraint and a burden. In this, as in other cases, it is God's way to bless men without their own wills, against their cousent, and in spite of their ingratitude! Al It is a great blessing to man in this, that it affords a cessation from labor. On this day, God commands the gain-loving worlding to stop!. It is against his will; sullenly he mutters in view of the gain, of which, as he thinks, he is deprived by keeping the Sabbath. If it were not for God and public opinion, he would try and toil as on other days; and thus he would soon wear out his too-fast wearing physical frame, and become a sacrifice to a god who requires a harder service than the |