Transcribed from the 1849 Johnstone and Hunter edition by David Price, ccx074@pglaf.org, using scans from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. [Picture: Pamphlet cover] SABBATH DEFENCE TACTICS, A MANUAL; BY JAMES BRIDGES, ESQ. * * * * * * * * * * “Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” * * * * * * * * * * EDINBURGH: JOHNSTONE AND HUNTER, 15 PRINCES STREET; AND 26 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. M.DCCC.XLIX. * * * * * RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO THE OFFICE-BEARERS AND MEMBERS OF THE LORD’S-DAY SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. * * * * * SABBATH DEFENCE TACTICS. THE observance of the Lord’s day partook largely of the general religious declension which characterised the conclusion of the eighteenth century. Fresh invasions were constantly made on its sanctity; and practices which a century before would have startled the most careless, were unconsciously acquiesced in even by the religious. England, as a nation, never made the large professions of strictness which marked the north, and its remembrance of the day, such as it was, became feebler as time progressed; while in Scotland, which always had a name as a Sabbath-keeping land, the evil influence grew visibly in its populous towns, and was seen gradually diffusing itself throughout the country. The Post-Office, with its mail-coaches, runners, letters, and newspapers, and the hackney-coach, are among the standing memorials of this falling away. Happily, however, for the cause of every thing sacred and expedient, a revival of religion took place in both ends of the island, which, manifesting itself first in the Churches, did not fail speedily to embrace within its action the great matter of the observance of the Lord’s day.