Every one who is conversant with the Bible and the preaching of the present day, must assent to the truthfulness of the above, and if the Evangelist were like to produce any reform on that point I should heartily wish it God speed. I was struck on reading it with the difference between the sentiments of the writer and those of some of the preachers of what is termed the "Oberlin School." I heard one declare while preaching on this subject, in this State, that the keeping of the letter of the Law leads to death! I was led to wonder how wide a departure, in his opinion, from the strict letter of the Law of God is necessary to ensure eternal life; and, surely, the great majority must be saved, according to such teaching, for the departures from the plain, literal reading of God's Law are both frequent and broad enough to please the most rigid Antinomian. And I wondered further if the said preacher remembered reading in Prof. Finney's writings that every law had its letter and spirit; this relating to the external observance, and that to the internal: that the letter might be kept without the spirit, but the spirit of a law could not be kept without observing the letter.
But it is easy to perceive the cause of the dilemma—it is the fourth commandment. In vain may the press and the pulpit unite their efforts; they can never "restore the law to its place," until they cease to break, and teach others to break, the holy Sabbath. In vain will they seek to awe by "the thunders of Sinai," so long as they try to make the law delivered on Sinai enforce Sunday keeping. The people will not regard it—they will not tremble before it as long as this inconsistency is manifested in the lives and doctrines of those who profess to teach in God's name. I hope all will carefully read the remarks above, as they present a brief but striking view of the deplorable state of the churches and the world at the present time, with the evident reason why they occupy such a fearful position.