this proves an instructive scene to you, it will be a happy thing; I hope it will be so to Edward and to Elizabeth. Oh, my family and friends, what will become of them-they little know the distress of these parting scenes." My mother replied don't be troubled about us; we shall be provided for. "Oh, yes! God will take care of you." After this my mother and I lay down for half an hour. When we returned, we found the physicians there. They gave him brandy and ether, mixed. He seemed grateful for every little attention, and always said, thank you to his watchers and nurse for every teaspoon-full, even as long as he was able to speak. At about eight o'clock, though his sufferings were diminished, yet his face was expressive of great agony; but he was pleasant, and patient. His eyes were very large the pupil distended, and the white very yellow; his whole countenance was paleand, not merely that, death was upon it. Mamma and I both asked him, if he knew us; he seemed much surprised, and said to each "Why my dear, I know you as well as ever I did!" After this he exclaimed, "God bless my dear wife and children." Mr. H- read to him the eighth chapter of Romans, and asked him if he died in this faith. He answered, "I should have no solid ground for a hope of happiness, were I now to turn about and reject it." From this time until his death, I sat upon the right side of the bed and held his dear hand, which he once took away, and then returned to me. I asked him if he would send his love to Edward: he said "Oh, certainly!" At eleven o'clock he expired without a struggle. At the moment, he became black, but in less than half an hour, he was the most natural, placid, and beautiful corpse I ever saw. I believe I was relieved when he expired, for I.know he could not live; and it scarcely seemed desirable to detain the struggling spirit, when its sufferings were so great: Dr. T. says they were far greater than are common. "I had a chill after twelve o'clock on Monday, and as my predisposition to fever was very strong, I complied with the wishes of the physician, and deicd myself the sad pleasure of attending even the prayer below. On Tuesday morning, I beheld for the last time the dear beautiful piece of clay-so lately animated by the gentlest spirit. Oh my dear A-it required all my fortitude to deny myself the melancholy satisfaction of attending his remains to their long home. "The colors in the harbor were half mast high, business was suspended, and our friends generally wore badges of mourning. I am thus particular about these comparatively trifling circumstances, because I know they will be to you, as they were to us, gratifying, as testimonies of affectionate respect. Dr. Strong preached an excellent sermon, which is to be printed. In giving the character of my lamented father, he quoted these lines from Cowper-"Would I describe a preacher such as Paul," &c. "If sympathy could heal this wound it would be healed; for we have received every mark of ten derness. Our godd Mr. H. was a great support to my dying father, and to us all. "Mamma has been supported in this trial beyond almost any instance I ever knew. They have been lovely and pleasant in their lives "I could write you as much more; but you would not expect it of me yet. Yours affectionately, MARY A. HOOKER. The following inscription was placed on a plain, neat, marble monument: In memory of Rev. ASAHEL HOOKER: Died April 19th, 1815. He was 18 years the beloved Pastor of the church in Goshen: dismissed for want of health: installed over the church in Chelsea, January 16th, 1812. Constant in his Master's service, He affectionately sought by precept and example to win souls to Jesus; and finished his publ e labors with this injunction: "Be ye duers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls." [The general character of Mr. Hooker will appear in our next.] RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. For the Panoplist. ON THE SABBATH. NO. VII. The prohibitory part of the fourth commandment. sacred hours, which God emphatically claims as his own. Since, however, the strict ob. servance of the Lord's day is a matter of vital importance to religion; and since it has become fashionable to pare off and explain aay, till the very essence of the sacred institution is exposed, it seems necessary to examine the subject with some particularity. The prohibitions of the law respecting the Sab. bath, are concisely and admira THE correctness of what was advanced in my two last numbers being admitted, it follows, as a necessary consequence, that no part of the Sabbath may be devoted to common secular employments or recreations. For, if the whole day should be spent in meditation, prayer, self-bly stated by the Assembly of examination, and such other religious duties, as I specified, then no time can be left for the indulgence of worldly thoughts, nor for any of the ordinary labors, or relaxations of human life. This single inference, which, as it appears to me, can neither be fairly evaded, nor resisted, overthrows at once most of the arguments and pretences, by which thousands try hard to justify themselves, in their hàbitual encroachments upon those Divines, in their exposition of it, contained in our shorter catechism. "The fourth commandment," say they, "forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words or works, about worldly employments or recreations." The clause in this exposition, that now claims our particulat attention, is that, which declares, that it is forbidden to be engaged, on the Sabbath, in "unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations." It will be proper for us to try the correctness of this exposition, by appealing to the law itself, and by a careful examination of such explanations of this law, as God has given us in various parts of the Sacred Volume. The prohibitory part of the law is, as every well instructed child ows, in these words: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger, that is within thy gates. In the clause of the commandment which immediately precedes this, God had said; Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. Whether we regard this, in the light of a per, ission to labor six days, or as making it a duty to labor, is immaterial to the present argument. Men are to do, not the greatest part, but all their work in six days. There is no proviso to accommodate the idle, the busy, or even those, who may have been sick all the week previous to the Sabbath. Every one must admit, that the form of expression amounts to a positive prohibition; for who, that does all his work in six days, can have any left for the seventh? But God saw fit to make the prohibition doubly strong, by adding, In it thou shalt not do any work. Surely, no man, after reading this, could think of attending to his secular affairs on the Sab. bath, till he had made up his mind to trample upon the law and to set the authority of the Legislator at defiance. But a depraved heart, always fertile in evasions, might have suggested, that children, servants, and cattle, could be employed in labor without any infraction of the law, had not every plea for such an interpretation been taken away, by the explanatory clause which follows, in which the labor of sons and daughters, of servants, of cattle and of strang. ers, is explicitly forbidden. All these things demand the reader's particular attention. They were written for our learning, on whom the ends of the world are come. In the first place, then, we, who act for ourselves, whether heads of families or not, may do no work upon the Lord's day. We may, and ought to be diligent in our respective callings on other days. Idleness is a great sin; but we must not take God's time, for doing our work. He has given us six days out of seven, which, when rightly used, are quite sufficient for our own employments. We may not encroach upon the Sabbath. It is holy time. If we have been idle, or dilatory, we must bear the loss. If we have undertaken too much in one week, we must defer a part to the next. If we have been sick, or providentially called away from our business, we must not attempt to redeem the time, by breaking God's law, but devoutly spend the day which he has sanctified, in religious duties, trusting in his boun ty, for the supply of our temporal wants. Secondly; are we parents or masters, the prohibition includes our children and servants, as well as ourselves. We may neither require, nor permit, them to labor upon the Lord's day. We may not require it. If they have labored faithfully six days, they need the rest, which the Sabbath was intended to give them. And whether they have been faithful, or not, we have no right to employ them about our secular affairs, on that holy day. In saying, they shall not do any work, God has precluded us from the exercise of that authority, which he permits, and makes it our duty to exercise, on other days. To command a child or servant to work, when God has expressly forbid den him, is nothing less than setting up our authority, as para Imount to that of Jehovah; and be, who does it, must prepare to abide the tremendous conse quences. And we are as much bound to restrain our children, or servants, from what the divine law forbide, as to enforce their obedience to what it requires. It may not be possible, I allow, for the most vigilant and faithful parent or master to pre. vent his children or servants, in every case, from violating the Sabbath. They may sometimes steal away from his presence, and without his knowledge, engage in labor, in foolish talking and jesting; or in various vain recreations equally inconsistent with the spirit of the fourth commandment. But let no one, who has children under his care, lay hold of this admission as an excuse for his negligence. Let us, if we would obtain the divine approbation, keep a watchful eye over all the members, especially the young members of our families on the Lord's day. Let us make an effectual trial of mild, affectionate persuasion, and, should that fail, let us not shrink from the employment of Again; as we may not require, 10 neither may we permit, our children and servants to work on the Sabbath. God has subjected them to our authority; and made coercive measures, more or less us, in no small degree, answer- severe, as circumstances may able for their conduct. It will require. I cannot dismiss this by no means be sufficient for us topic, without reminding unto plead, when called to our last faithful pa ents, if this page audit, that we laid no commands should eve catch the eyes of upon them, contrary to the re- such, what a fearful account quirements of the divine law; they will have to render at the that we gave them much good last day. et those, especially, advice; and that we should have who profane the Sabbath thembeen highly pleased, had they selves; who go with their sons listened to it. Let us not forget into the field, or who send them the woes, which were denounc ed against the house of Eli, and which were fearfully executed, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained As parents, guardans, or masters, we are, so to speak, placed in God's stead. them not. thither alone, remember, that God will vindicate the honor of his sacred institutions, by pour ing indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon such daring transgressors. Again; the law of the Sabbath goes further. It is a law of ner. cy to beasts as well as men. It places itself, as a strong and sacred barrier, between the avar ice of our species and the abuse of those animals, which God has created for our use, and, under important limitations, subjected' to our authority. We have an undoubted right to employ our cattle in moderate labor, during the whole time, that we are permitted to labor ourselves; but when the Sabbath comes, the right is suspended. The command is explicit, that they shall not do any work. We may neither subject them to labor in our own business, nor let them out to others. The latter mode of employing them, though regarded by many as less criminal, is even worse than the former; because, in nine instances out of ten, men will drive a hired horse harder, than they would one of their own. How then, will those impious contemners of God's law answer for their conduct, who keep horses and carriages, with a view to let them more upon the Lord's day than upon any other. I am not here condemning a mere phantom of my own imagination. I am well assured, that in some of our principal cities and towns, so great is the demand for horses and pleasure carriages on the Sabbath, that in many instances, the owners ask, and actually receive, twice as much for their hire, as upon any other day in the week. Further; what a dreadful account are the proprietors of stages, in all parts of the United States, preparing for the last great day. And what an amazing aggregate of guilt is contracted, by thousands in our land, who are every Sabbath goading on their teams, to hasten the transportation of goods from city to city, and from one end of the union to the other. What will they do, when God shall come to vindicate his own law, and take the part of his abused creatures, against their cruel and ungodly masters. Again; the prohibitory part of the law now under consideration includes all persons not before mentioned, who may happe to be within our gates upon the Lord's day. The phrase. within thy gates, as employed by the sacred penmen, amounts to the same thing, as within the limits of thy control, or rightful authority. Thus, when a stranger entered the house of an Israelite, he was so long as he remained there within the owner's gates; and, in some sort, subject to the rules of his family. When a stranger went to one of the cities of Israel, whether for traffic or for any other purpose, he was within their gates, and was bound equally with them, to keep the Sabbath holy; as was every one, who might have occasion to spend the day any where, within their territorial limits. In like manner, all strangers passing through the state, or town where we dwell, or coming to reside amongst us, are, to speak in Scripture language, within our gates; as are all those, also, whom we receive into our houses, during the time of their continuance with us, whether it be longer or shorter. As it respects strangers, then, the law of the Sabbath may be considered as imposing certain duties on magistrates, and on heads of families: First on magistrates: The law; |