in all things._

II. There are also duties that we owe to God, _in private_, which ought
to occupy a portion of the holy Sabbath. In the present age, when so
much of the Lord's day is spent in attendance upon public worship and
the Sabbath school, there is danger that secret communion with God will
be neglected; and thus, like the tree with a worm at its root, the soul
will wither under the genial rain and sunshine of the gospel. With a few
practical directions on this point, I shall close this letter.

1. _Spend as large a portion as possible of the intervals of public
duties in your closet._ The time thus spent should be employed
principally in the devotional reading of the Holy Scriptures;
meditation, for the purpose of getting your own heart affected with
divine truth; self-examination, and prayer. If you have very much time
to spend in this way, you may employ a part of it in reading some
devotional book; but I think our reading on the Sabbath should be
principally confined to the Scriptures. But _prayer_ should be frequent,
and mingled with everything.

2. _Spend no part of the Lord's day in seeking your own ease or
pleasure._ We are required to turn away our feet from finding our own
pleasure on God's holy day. All our time is the Lord's; but the Sabbath
is his in a peculiar manner. On other days of the week he allows us to
do _our own_ work. But on this day we must do _his work only_. There is
no room, then, for the indulgence of idleness, indolence, or sloth, upon
the Sabbath. The duties of this holy day are such as to require the
active and vigorous exercise of all our faculties. That you may not,
then, be tempted to indulge in sloth, use every means in your power to
promote a lively state of your bodily energies. Make all your
preparations on the afternoon of Saturday. Spend a portion of the
evening in devotional exercises, for the purpose of banishing the world
from your mind, and bringing it into a heavenly frame; and retire to
rest at an early hour. By this means, your animal powers will be
refreshed, and you will be prepared early to meet the Lord, on the
approach of his holy morning.

3. _Watch over your thoughts._ The Sabbath is a season when Satan is
exceedingly busy in diverting our thoughts from holy things. Evil
thoughts also proceed from our own depraved hearts. But the Lord's day
is as really profaned by vain and worldly thoughts, as by the labor of
our bodies. O, if we could realize this, ho