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pendents the view of that blessed Redeemer, who came into the world that all men through him might be saved; whoever refuses the waters of life to the spiritually thirsty, and allows those who are about him and are ministering by their labour to his comforts, to perish eternally for lack of knowledge; that man obeys not, regards not his God and his Saviour. Awfully will the words sound in his ears, when he is asked at the great day of account and general retribution, "Where are the souls committed to thy charge?" Thy God hath said, "Let him that is athirst come, and let him take the water of life freely;" and hast thou interposed thy fleeting power, and said 'Come not, taste not? Thy Saviour offered himself for all men, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; and hast thou declared, if not in words, yet in thy deeds, 4 Hosea iv. 6.

5 John iii. 16.

that those over whom power was given thee, should not believe in the Saviour, should not even know that "he died for their sins, and rose again for their justification." Where are the souls over whom thou hast exercised an almost unbounded controul, while with their bodies they were serving thee those whom human laws made thy slaves, yet who are by creation and by redemption thy brethren?

The man whose conscience tells him, that those who were dependent on him, have, through his wilful neglect, died in utter ignorance of Christ and his religion, may well tremble at questions such as these.

But among those who now hear me, many, I would hope very many, will be able to reply, 'Lord here are thine own. We have made them acquainted with thy Holy Word. We have ourselves taught them, or have carefully provided that others should teach them, in whom they were to believe, and what they were to

do, to obtain eternal life. If any have been lost, the fault is not ours; for we were willing that they should be saved.'

My prayer is, that every proprietor or agent in the management of slave property may be able thus faithfully to account for the trust reposed in him. May the word of God, through their instrumentality, have free course where before it was impeded, and be glorified in this, and in every neighbouring colony.

LECTURE III

THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD'S DAY IN

THE WEST INDIES.

(Preached at the Cathedral, Barbados, Feb.
12, 1832.)

MARK XI. 27.

The Sabbath was made for man.

THIS declaration of the divine author and finisher of our faith, implies that the observance of the sabbath, that is, of a day of rest from worldly employment, and of devotion to the service of the Almighty, is of universal and immutable obligation. The sabbath was not made, or set apart as peculiarly holy, for the Jews alone, but for MAN of every kindred and tongue and nation. When solemnly

promulgated to the assembled Israelites from Mount Sinai, it was only a renewal of the command already required; for before it pleased God to call Abraham from beyond the river, to make him the father of a peculiar people, and even in Paradise before the fall, it was enjoined to the common progenitor of us all, not only as a law but as a privilege. It is an institution for the benefit, of every human being, and this benefit, as far as their nature permits their participation in it, is mercifully permitted to extend to the brute creation. On this day no manner of work, unless proceeding from the call of piety, charity, or absolute necessity, is to be done by the master, or by the servant; and even the cattle are included within the enjoined respite from labour.

The objects of this divine institution are clearly the glory of God, and the good of man. After the Almighty had finished his six days' work of creation, he rested on the seventh day, and because

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