g no time, I much question it. Rather you
have no inclination. Too many of you can find time to jest, to talk
obscenely or profanely, to read and sing idle songs; why might not
some, or rather the whole of this time be employed in reading, or
hearing the Bible? You might find time, if you could find a will. But
remember, that such excuses as you now make, will stand you in no stead
when you appear before God in judgment. There are few, if any of you,
but might have opportunity of attending to these things, if you
were but willing.

[*Footnote: Two or three hours thus spent on the Lord's day, in
instructing each other to read, would be a very commendable employment.
I have often expressed my longing desire that such a plan was set on
foot among you. And if there could be a convenient building created for
this purpose, I should think myself happy, not only to furnish you with
books, as far as I am able, but also personally to attend and assist
you, as much as my immediate calls of duty would permit.]

II. Observe and reverence the sabbath, or Lord's day. Remember the
sabbath-day, to keep it holy [Exod. xx. 8.], is a solemn and positive
command of God. To live in the neglect of this commandment, is absolutely
to despise God, and to defy him, as it were to his face. Consider, my
friends, you have orders frequently given you here, by your superiors,
which you know you must obey, or you know the consequences of
disobedience--judge then for yourselves, what have those persons to
expect, who, in defiance of the authority of the great God, presume to
neglect and profane the day which he has so expressly enjoined to be kept
holy?

It gives me a deep and continual concern to observe how the Lord's-day
is spent by many of you. What would a stranger think, who
regards the sabbath, if he visited every part of this colony on the
Lord's day? Ah! my brethren, I have seen and heard enough (alas! much
more than enough) to form my own judgment on this subject. If my duty
did not require my attendance on the public worship, and were I to
visit your different places and huts, I fear I should find some of you
spending the hours appointed for divine service in cultivating your
gardens and grounds, others indulging themselves in mere sloth and
idleness, others engaged in the most profane and unclean conversation,
and others committing abominations, which it would defile my pen to
describe. Now what must be the end of these courses? God sa