that on the Sabbath day no spirituous liquors shall be sold in the grounds. But notwithstanding these plausible concessions, nay all the more because of the false principles which I am persuaded they involve, I still regard the proposition with abhorrence, as opposed to an express command of Heaven, and I stand here to-night, resolved in the strength of God to lift up a solemn protest against it, and to urge on all who hear me the necessity of endeavouring, by dutiful remonstrance, to prevent the systematic violation of God’s law under the sanction of the executive authority of the realm. There are certain leading ideas suggested by the passages I have read, which bear upon the subject now before us. It is clearly indicated that the law of God cannot be despised or violated by any nation without bringing down upon it the righteous judgments of Heaven (this being especially true with regard to the transgression of the law of the Sabbath), and it is also taught that the service which God demands is such as will admit of no compromise, either with the claims of covetousness on the one hand, or with the pursuit of sinful pleasure on the other. I. _The Law of God cannot be violated by any nation_, _without exposing it to the righteous judgments of Heaven_. This is a great principle repeatedly laid down in Scripture, and fully authenticated by the facts of history. It holds true with regard to individuals as well as nations, and is abundantly illustrated by the course of events in the natural as well as in the spiritual world. There are fixed laws which regulate the phenomena of the sun and the solar system, by which the planets move in their orbits, and all derive light and heat from the king of day; and if it were possible to disturb this harmony by any dislocating force, then all things in the universe would be out of place, and “chaos” would “come again.” There are fixed laws, also, by which health and life are regulated, protected, and preserved, any violation of which brings its own punishment. You cannot take up fire without being burned, for it is the property of fire to burn; you cannot handle the venomous serpent, and expect that it will not pierce you with its deadly fangs; for it is the nature of the serpent—the very law of its life—to poison and destroy. You cannot eat or drink to excess, without deranging that beautiful concord of the bodily organs which constitutes health, and bringing on yourself disease and premature death. And if we turn to the spiritual world, we shall find similar results. Sin is the spiritual serpent which poisons and destroys the life of the soul. Extend its baneful influence from the individual to a family, all are brought under its blight and curse. And so it is of communities and nations, which are aggregates of individuals, and subject, in their collective capacity, to the same law. The kingdoms of the earth are placed under the eye and control of Him who