ance of the Sabbath, by removing temptations to violate it, are the true benefactors of their country. * *

"But your memorialists conceive, that, while the General Government can make no law for the support of religion, it is equally true, that the General Government ought not to make a law, the tendency of which shall be the destruction of both religion and morality. On this ground the present memorial is offered. The existing Postoffice law violates religious obligations; and, so far as it has this effect, it ought to be repealed."

The foregoing extracts of Petitions, Memorials, Remonstrances, and Reports, are copied from "The American State Papers, Class VII. Post Office Department."

The reader would be abundantly rewarded by an examination of all the petitions and memorials which have been presented on this subject. A few more of them may be found in the book from which the above extracts were taken; and others, probably among the archives of the nation.

Further extracts from petitions and remonstrances, on the same subject, and presented at the same time, quoted from a small Tract published in New York, 1829, giving "An account of Memorials to Congress," &c., will now be added. This Tract gives an account of more than four hundred and fifty distinct petitions, from more than twenty different states; to which are affixed the names of many of the most distinguished men in the nation, as may be seen by referring to that work.

From Leroy, N. Y.

"Your petitioners have observed, with deep regret, that the more we are prospered as a nation, under the smiles of a benign Providence, the more are the precepts of our Lord and Savior, and the authority of the God of our fathers, openly violated; until, as we have every reason to fear, from the pinnacle of prosperity and glory, to which the God of heaven hath exalted our beloved country, we shall, by our public and national sins, be precipitated to the abyss of irreligion and ruin."

From Columbia County, Geo.

"The undersigned do earnestly solicit your honorable body to devise such measures, that the transportation of the mail, and the opening thereof, and the delivery of letters, may no longer be required on the Sabbath."

From Greensburg, Beaver County, Penn.

"We do not ask you to put a stop to the iniquities prevailing in private life; but to reform those national evils, that are in opposition to the best interests of our country, the law of a holy and merciful God, to the rights of religious men, and even to the rights of the brute creation."

From Rockingham County, N. C.

"The undersigned do view the practice of the Postoffice establishment, relating to the conveyance of the mails on the Sabbath, as a grievance, which we think to be contrary to the laws of Sacred Writ, as well as contrary to the intent and meaning of the laws of the United States: We therefore solicit most humbly of the honorable Congress a redress of the aforesaid grievance."

From William E. Channing and others, Boston.

ر

"This application, we trust, will not be misunderstood. We do not ask Congress to enforce any season, or form, of public worship. We should deprecate, as among the greatest evils, any legislation intended to favor the views of a sect, or to establish a particular faith. We only pray, that Congress may not counteract, by its measures, those institutions which are cherished by the community, as the means of public and private virtue.”

From Albion, Maine.

"Your memorialists must confess, that they have a personal interest in the subject to which they are soliciting the attention of Congress. They not only wish to preserve their families and friends from the contagion of a bad example, and of an allowed, customary disregard and contempt of an invaluable institution;

but they are also persuaded, that for national deviations from right, emanating from the Government, a present national retribution is to be apprehended, inasmuch as the future reckoning is for individuals, and not for states; and such public retributory judgment must fall upon the people, and must be borne by your memorialists in common with others."

From Rowan County, N. C.

"Your memorialists consider the practice of transporting and opening the mail on the Sabbath, contrary to the FOURTH COMMAND IN THE DECALOGUE; and that the continuance and increase of our happiness depend on our obedience to the laws of God."

From Trenton, N. J.

"The practice of opening the Postoffice of the United States, on the Sabbath day, is, in the opinion of your memorialists, a violation of the Divine commandment, injurious in its effects on the public morals, and unsupported by any plea of public necessity or convenience; while it gives just offence to the principles and feelings of the Christian community."

From Jersey City.

"The memorialists do not think it will be expected of them to reply at length to the arguments used in defence of transporting and opening mails on the Sabbath, and the delivery of letters and newspapers at Postoffices; as the honorable bodies addressed will at once perceive, that an entire suspension of secular business on that day would operate impartially on the whole community; that experience demonstrates that the rest of one day in seven conduces alike to a vigorous prosecution of business and to a healthy moral tone; and that the whole array of arguments in favor of breaking the Sabbath is answered by the solemn truth, that the violations of this holy day are contrary to the laws of God, and detrimental to the physical, civil, and moral good of the people."

Many petitions, from all parts of the Union, were couched in the same language.

From Salem, Mass.

"Believing, as your petitioners do, that the practice abovementioned is a direct infringement of the Divine law, and its existence is inconsistent with the character, and a reproach to the name of a Christian people; that its tendency is to subvert the institutions of religion, by lessening that respect for them which ought ever to be felt and inculcated; that it exerts a pernicious and demoralizing influence upon the community at large, by encouraging, and, in effect, inviting their attention to secular concerns on the Sabbath, to the neglect, and even the exclusion of the appropriate duties of the day; that, as an open violation of an express command of the SUPREME LAWGIVER, it must be offensive in his sight, and may lead to such a general depravation of manners, as to cause him to withdraw from us that abounding goodness and favor which he has hitherto vouchsafed to us as a nation; and that, from all these considerations, it calls loudly for correction and redress ;--they repeat their most earnest and respectful request," &c.

This form of petition also was much used.

From Spartanburgh District, S. C.

"While the arm of Jehovah is lifted for our defence, no enemy can subdue us, or impair our rights. But if the supreme Legislature of this Union, by their act, make it necessary to violate the command of God, his justice will demand that adequate punishment be inflicted on our common country. His own law He will magnify and make honorable, by inflicting the sanction, or honoring those who honor it."

From Rockbridge County, Va.

"Our opinion is based, not only on the firm belief that God claims that day for his service, but on a firm belief, that every nation, which generally profanes that holy day by neglecting to keep it, does bring upon itself heavy judgments."

From Hanover County, Va.

'Being fully convinced that the blessing of God will be con

ferred on that nation which obeys his laws, and that punishment will be inflicted on the disobedient, we have, with much concern, seen in the Postoffice Department, that the Sabbath, a day which God hath commanded to be kept holy, is broken and profaned."

From Westmoreland County, Va.

"We view with deep regret the public violation of the Sabbath, in transporting and opening the mail on that day. We regard the command to keep the Sabbath holy, binding upon nations, as well as individuals. We are dependent on Divine Providence as a nation, and cannot expect the blessing of God, while we act in opposition to his requirements."

From Newburyport, Mass.

But, more than all, by these means, an explicit command of God is violated, and the authority of the Lawgiver set at naught, and his righteous displeasure incurred, not against individuals only, who are the immediate transgressors, but also against the community and government, which authorizes or suffers such wickedness."

From Rensselaer County, N. Y.

"With a few unworthy exceptions, were the question for the observance of the Sabbath put to the citizens of the United States, it would be unanimously carried in the affirmative. Why then should this public evil of which we complain, which tends to destroy the observance of the Sabbath, and to disturb those who do observe it, be supported by Government?"

From St. Lawrence County, N. Y.

"The toleration, or rather establishment, by the law of the land, of this work and labor on the Sabbath, has long been deplored by a vast majority, it is believed, of the Christian community."

From the City of Boston.

"As a people, the inhabitants of the United States, if they