Transcriber's note:
The following correction has been made:
p. 9: "members of one famliy" famliy changed to family.
Everything else retained as printed. The cover image was produced by the submitter, and is being placed into the public domain.
THE
SABBATH AT HOME.
BY THE
REV. SILAS M. ANDREWS.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.
JAMES RUSSELL, PUBLISHING AGENT.
1840.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836,by A. W. Mitchell, in the office of the Clerk of the DistrictCourt for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
[3]THE SABBATH AT HOME.
It is not proposed to dwell, in the following pages, upon thearguments that might be brought forward to prove that theSabbath is a Divine institution, established and sanctified bythe Creator on the seventh day, after all his works were finished,and renewed to Israel on the descent of the manna. Norshall I attempt to show, from the Scriptures, that the Sabbathis a Christian institution, as well as a Jewish ordinance; orcall your attention to the satisfactory reasons we have for observing,as holy time, the first day of the week, and not theseventh. No controversy will be maintained with any whoobject to the Sabbath as commonly acknowledged by Christians.He who sincerely seeks for instruction, has no need ofsuch argument; he already believes the Sabbath is the Lord's,and that it is to be sanctified by a holy resting all the day.
The design of this Tract is to point out and illustrate themost profitable manner of spending that part of the Lord'sday which is not employed in the public exercises of Divineworship.
That your family, in each of its members, may profitablyspend the Sabbath at home,—
I. By Saturday evening have your worldly business arrangedto keep the Sabbath.
Few families pursue their business or trade, the same on theSabbath as on any other day. But there are many who do notkeep it as a sacred rest. If they do not plough and sow; ifthe sound of the anvil and the saw is not heard in their shops;if they do not, with open doors, buy and sell, and get gain;there is another species of worldly business to which they doattend, which, though not so much noticed by others, properlybelongs to the six days in which work may be done.
Such persons may be said to make arrangements, not to keep,but to profane the Sabbath. "This matter need not be attendedto now, while other things press upon us—it may be postponeduntil Sunday. That journey must be performed—thatplan laid with my neighbour—that errand accomplished nextSabbath, or it will interfere with the business of the week."
To persons who thus feel, and who can thus act, I do notpropose to address myself; they do not desire information;they have no wish to be instructed how they may more profitablyspend the Sabbath. They would like best to hear ofsome new plan of retaining the Christian name, while theydrive on their own trades and find their own pleasures. No[4]argument would