All the efforts which have ever been made by the rude arm of physical force, to rescue mankind from oppression, have been utterly futile; and if any one will survey the state of the nations at the present moment, he will find the liberty and the privileges enjoyed by the people, to be exactly proportioned to the extent to which general intelligence and the knowledge of the word of God are diffused among them. What has the sword ever effected for the redemption of mankind from tyranny? It may have wrenched power from the hand of one party, but it has only been to give it into the hand of another equally liable to abuse it. Has it been torn from the hand of a lawless and merciless despot? It has been given into the hands of an insolent and brutal soldiery, or a superstitious mob, who soon trampled under foot that liberty which had been purchased for them with the blood of their brethren. Every revolution which has been effected by violence, affords proof of this. It has been the blood of the martyr--the patient endurance and unshaken fortitude of him who would rather yield up liberty and life itself, than deny the truth--the peaceable, but persevering and indefatigable missionary, whose exertions have been devoted to the spread of the knowledge of God among men, who, by introducing religion and its Sabbath, and bringing man into intercourse with his God, the great Lord of all, to whom all are equally responsible, the governed and the governor, the subject and the prince, the servant and his master; and thus, by awakening in men a sense of their personal responsibility, has aroused their minds to activity. It is the knowledge of their responsibility--of the great truth that all must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to give, each one, an account of the deeds done in the body--which causes men to think and act for themselves, and thus raises them above the subtlety and power of selfishness and ambition. Although the Sabbath comes laden with blessings for the sons of men, yet let it never be forgotten, that he only whom the truth has made free, he who has left the service of sin, to become the Lord’s free man, doing the will of God from the heart, can fully appreciate or enjoy, not only its spiritual, but even its merely temporal blessings. He who has never tasted that God is good, who has never in joyful confidence committed the salvation of his soul into the hand of Jesus, will but abuse its benefits, neglect its duties, and despise its privileges.