THE SABBATH QUESTION ILLUSTRATED. CHAPTER I. RENDERING A REASON. "Do nothing for which you cannot render a reason," said an old gentleman of few words to a giddy young fellow who asked him for a short, practical rule to set out with. The aphorism was received with a smile, a shrug, and the remark, "Then I must be content to do very little.' 6 Or, per contra, to think a great deal,' was the rejoinder. Abstractedly, the rule was little worth: rendering a reason, according to his own estimate of the fitness of things, is an exercise, if not of the reflective faculties, yet certainly of the speaking organs, perfectly congenial to man. Were it other B wise, how many a silent vote would stand recorded on our parliamentary divisions, where now the closely-printed column teems with matter over which an impatient house has yawned, or a drowsy one dosed, through the nights of needlessly protracted debate. Happily for the young man alluded to, he took the suggestion in the spirit of its originator. It fastened, perhaps, on his memory as being the conceit of a noted humorist; and prepared him, imperceptibly, for habits of investigation that touched with a new, and unexpected tint, the character of the man—the course of his after-life. In fact, the old man's precept had been addressed to supply the principal desideratum in our friend's case. Reasoning faculties of no contemptible order he possessed, but he retained them too much in the ingot form, intrinsically valuable, yet inapplicable to every day uses; thus necessitating him to avail himself of the small coin that other men carried loose in their pockets. Metaphor apart, he was willing to adopt such sentiments and usages as obtained among his ordinary associates, rather than incur the trouble of bringing his investigating powers to bear on the multifarious trifles of daily and hourly recurrence, where every man must pursue some line of action, whether or not he may have |