A BUSINESS MAN many years ago was traveling by the side of one of the western lakes in a stage which made its trips but once a week. The settlement was sparse, the road bad, and there was little travel. The Sabbath came. The question with him was not, what shall I do? but others said, when he announced that he should proceed no farther, how then can you get along? Yet there was but one course for him. Long before, he had made up his mind to rest on Sunday, leaving consequences with God. The stage went on, while he remained until Monday morning, when a gentleman drove up and offered to carry him on his journey; he was well accommodated with a seat, and it proved a saving of money. Thousands can testify to similar facts. As God provided manna for two days on the sixth, so he will take care of those who keep his commandments. As nothing was gained by retaining the manna from one day to another, except, from the sixth to the seventh, so nothing will be gained by laying up the wages of unlawful labor. They will prove a curse instead of a blessing. It is always safe to obey God. When we toil on the Lord's day, we toil for nothing that can do us any good.

A GENTLEMAN acquainted twenty-five years in New York, says, that those merchants of his acquaintance who have kept their counting rooms open on Sunday have failed without an exception.

DR. SPURZHEIM says, "The cessation of labor one day in seven, contributes to the preservation of health, and to the restoration of the bodily powers.

Journeymen printers, stage-drivers, boatmen, and all classes of men, who habitually labor seven days in a week, suffer much in their health and their morals.

MR. SCHOOLCRAFT, while examining the Upper Mississippi in 1830 and 1832, with twenty men, says, that they performed their tours in less time than companies usually do, which travel on Sunday, though they uniformly suspended labor on that holy day. He was convinced that they gained much by resting one day in seven.

"In the WEST INDIES, slaves were required to labor six days in the week for their masters, and the seventh day for their own support. The consequence was, short life and feeble health."

Nine days' labor in France, when the seven days' week was exchanged for a ten days' week, "increased the exhaustion of man, and diminished the aggregate amount of labor."

SEVEN THOUSAND JOURNEYMEN BAKERS, of London and vicinity, have petitioned the House of Commons to be released from their burden of laboring nine hours every Sunday, after from fourteen to sixteen hours of labor on week days. From their constant employment they suffer greatly in health.

It appeared in evidence before the Sabbath Committee of Parliament in regard to each branch of business in London, that in proportion to their disregard of the Sabbath, was the wretchedness and immorality of those engaged in it. Is not the same true of this and every other country ?

MR. VYSE of Birmingham, England, stated before the Sabbath Committee of the British Parliament, that he had taken one hundred and twenty horses, and nine or ten coaches off the road on Sunday, and that while his horses were allowed to rest one day in seven, he had no occasion to replenish their number in three months; but when they labored seven days in a week, he was obliged to buy every week. The same man says, he found that those persons who neglected that holy day, fell into bad habits, were led on from vice to vice, and generally ended in coming to misery and want.

The LORD BISHOP of Chester stated, before the same committee, that he once knew a man who kept his shop open on Sunday. When his minister remonstrated with him, he would reply, (though convinced of his error,) 'Why, I cannot afford it; for I sell more on the Sunday than all the other days of the week put together.' His mind, however, changed, and he closed his shop on that day, and so kept it closed for six months. When the clergyman called on him again, and wished to know the result. He said- Sir, to tell you the truth, I have taken more money in the six months since I shut up my shop on the Sunday, than I did in any one year before, since I was in business.'

The REV. J. W. CUNNINGHAM, in evidence before the Committee, says, he knows the result of an examination as to the quantity of work done, and the money expended in a public in

stitution, employing more than two thousand laborers. For a certain number of years these laborers were employed on the Sabbath. After the death of the individual who presided over the institution during this arrangement, his successor determined to dispense with Sunday labor-which was done: and by a most careful examination of the amount of labor performed during the two periods, it was ascertained that more work was done in the same portion of time, when they worked but six days, than there was when they worked seven days in a week. This was imputed to two causes: in the first place, to the demoralization of the people under the first system; and in the second place, to the exhaustion of their bodily strength, which was visible to the most casual observer. The same individual says, in relation to those who desecrate the Sabbath—the worst moral, civil, and political consequences, appear to me to follow, from the breach of the Sabath.

Mr. THOMAS GEORGE, before the same Committee, said, the following different trades in London, had been canvassed by himself and others, connected with the Sabbath Protection Society, viz:-butchers, bakers, drovers, poulterers, poultry cooks, confectioners, undertakers, publicans, ship, wagon, and coach proprietors, hairdressers, cheesemongers, grocers, chandlers, coffin-makers, watermen, bargemen, tobacconists, newsmen, printers, fishmongers, fruiterers, green-grocers; and that a vast majority of them would be delighted with a measure, provided it were general, to secure them against pecuniary loss, by a general observance of the Sabbath. One would not stop unless all did; and all felt that it was degrading for them to work on Sunday, and that they had a right to a day of rest, as well as other men.

Mr. WILLIAM MCKECHNEY said, he had visited at least ten thousand shop-keepers of various descriptions in and about London, relative to a general cessation of all business on Sunday, and that two thirds of them were in favor of it.

A man who is not allowed to rest on Sunday, is deprived of a privilege enjoyed by others. He is injured, and feels injured by the practice. Doubtless, if every man in this nation were to have the question put to him, would you prefer to have no labor

done on Sunday, nine-tenths of them would answer in the affirmative. The great difficulty now seems to be, to fix on a day when all shall stop, and to induce all to agree to it, at once. Go to one class to day, and they will say, we will give up our labor on the Lord's day, if others of our occupation will; and so it is with all.

INTELLECTUAL POWERS.

In the testimony of DR. RICHARD FARRE before the same Committee, there are some most important views, relating to this subject. Dr. Farre, in the early part of his life, had been the physician of a public medical institution. He had been engaged in Great Britain, in the study and practice of medicine forty years.

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This question was proposed to him, viz: Have you had occasion to observe the effect of the observance and non-observance of the seventh day of rest during that time? Ans. I have. I have been in the habit, during a great many years, of considering the uses of the Sabbath, and observing the abuses of it. The abuses are chiefly manifested in labor and dissipation. The use, medically speaking, is that of a day of rest. As a day of rest, I view it as a compensation for the inadequate restorative power of the body, under continued labor and excitement. physician always has respect to the preservation of the restorative power, because, if once this be lost, his healing office is at an end. He endeavors, physiologically, to show, that the Sabbath is a necessary appointment. He says, a physician is anxious to preserve the balance of circulation, as necessary to the restorative power of the body. The ordinary exertions of man run down the circulation every day of his life, and the first general law of nature, by which God prevents man from destroying himself, is the alternating of day with night, that repose may succeed action. But although the night apparently equalizes the circulation well, yet it does not sufficiently restore its balance for the attainment of long life. Hence one day in seven, by the bounty of Providence, is thrown in as a day of compensation, to perfect by its repose the animal system. You may easily determine this question as a matter of fact by trying it on beasts

of burden. Take that fine animal, the horse, and work him to the full extent of his powers, every day in the week, or give him rest one day in seven, and you will soon perceive, by the vigor with which he performs his functions, on the other six days, that this rest is necessary for his well-being.

In man it is not so immediately apparent, but in the long run he breaks down more suddenly.

He considers, that the Sabbath is not merely a precept, partaking of the nature of a positive institution, but that it is among the natural duties, if the preservation of life be a duty, and the premature destruction of it a suicidal act.

He remarks, that this is said simply as a physician, and without reference at all to the theological question; but if you consider further the proper effect of real Christianity, namely, peace of mind, confiding trust in God, and good will to man, you will perceive in this source of renewed vigor to the mind, and through the mind to the body, an additional spring of life, imparted from this higher use of the Sabbath, as a holy rest.

He goes on the ground that the mind, as well as the body, needs relaxation and repose, or a change of occupation, as often as one day in seven; that the mind when vigorously employed in business six days, will be injured by continuing in that employment beyond that period, before it is suffered to relax its powers; and that leaving business and engaging in dissipating amusement, does not afford all that aid and that kind of aid, which its constitution demands. He states that he had known many senators, and others in the higher walks of life, who hurried themselves to the grave by excessive mental effort.

It is to be regretted that our limits will allow us to make but one more quotation from this testimony. "In all that I have said," he remarks, "I have reference in my views of the Sabbath, to it, as a sustaining, repairing, and healing power.”

Dr. Farre is not alone in the belief, that both mind and body need the rest of the Sabbath. DR. RUSH says, "If there were no hereafter, individuals and societies would be great gainers by attending public worship. Rest from labor in the house of God winds up the machine of the soul and body, better than any