First Sabbath—Morning.

THE LORD'S DAY.

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."-Rev. i. 10.

IN the lonely Isle of Patmos, far from the privileges of the sanctuary, and far from Christian friends, the banished apostle kept and enjoyed "the Lord's day."

Let us think of what we should avoid on this day. We should abstain from ordinary business. "Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." A man of the world wishes to transact business with you on Sabbath, you inform him that it is "the Lord's day," and that you regularly devote it to His service. By so doing, you not only avoid sin, but you give him a lesson which has been blessed, and may be blessed again for the conversion of a soul. We should abstain from worldly pleasure, "not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure on God's holy day." There is no real pleasure except in serving God; and, how bitter will be the disappointment of those who forget the Sabbath, pursue their own pleasure, and

despise a day of reckoning! We should avoid vain and trifling conversation. The words of

our mouth indicate the state of our heart, and if the heart is not kept with diligence, and fixed upon the Lord of the Sabbath, and the great duty of remembering His holy day, our thoughts will be vanity and our conversation without profit.

Let us think of what duties we should attend to on the Sabbath. We should spend a part of every Sabbath in retirement. Religious reading, devout meditation, and earnest prayer, should occupy our minds. Has God given us immortal souls, which can dart in a moment to His throne in heaven, and mingle among the blessed around that throne, and shall they grovel for ever in the dust of this world? We should attend the ordinances of religion regularly and seriously. These ordinances are designed to lead us to Jesus, to happiness, and to heaven. Their observance will be certain to benefit our souls, while their neglect will produce bitter, and it may be unavailing regrets. "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand." "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." We should either be receiving or giving religious instruction. In the family or the Sabbath-school, the field of usefulness is vastly important, and ought to be cultivated with care, and surely there cannot be a well-spent Sabbath unless