it
would be to have ministers of religion to preach to them within the
walls; because, if they go out to hear preaching, they will hear just as
much about religious controversies, and clashing doctrines, and more,
than if appointed preachers officiated in the college. His object, as he
states, was to keep their minds free from all religious doctrines and
sects, and he would just as much defeat his ends by sending them out as
by having religious instruction within. Where, then, are these little
children to go? Where can they go to learn the truth, to reverence the
Sabbath? They are far from their friends, they have no one to accompany
them to any place of worship, no one to show them the right from the
wrong course; their minds must be kept clear from all bias on the
subject, and they are just as far from the ordinary observance of the
Sabbath as if there were no Sabbath day at all. And where there is no
observance of the Christian Sabbath there will of course be no public
worship of God.

In connection with this subject I will observe, that there has been
recently held a large convention of clergymen and laymen in Columbus,
Ohio, to lead the minds of the Christian public to the importance of a
more particular observance of the Christian Sabbath; and I will read, as
part of my argument, an extract from their address, which bears with
peculiar force upon this case.

"It is alike obvious that the Sabbath exerts its salutary power by
making the population acquainted with the being, perfections, and
laws of God; with our relations to him as his creatures, and our
obligations to him as rational, accountable subjects, and with our
character as sinners, for whom his mercy has provided a Saviour;
under whose government we live to be restrained from sin and
reconciled to God, and fitted by his word and spirit for the
inheritance above."

"It is by the reiterated instruction and impression which the
Sabbath imparts to the population of a nation, by the moral
principle which it forms, by the conscience which it maintains, by
the habits of method, cleanliness, and industry it creates, by the
rest and renovated vigor it bestows on exhausted human nature, by
the lengthened life and higher health it affords, by the holiness
it inspires, and cheering hopes of heaven, and the protection and
favor of God, which its observance insures, that the Sabbath is