Part 3
But it is impossible thus to regard man. Man has a spiritual, never-dying, as surely as he has an animal and mortal nature, which act and re-act upon each other, so that the well-being of the one is essential to the well-being of the other. He, therefore, who would confine man’s views to this world, and limit his endeavours after happiness to the present life, snatches from him, along with the hopes of the future, the riches of the present. Debarred from his Father’s house and his Father’s table, he will soon be wallowing in the mire of ignorance and vice, and feeding on the husks of sensual indulgence. He who chains man to continuous and unremitting exertion of his physical system, unfits his mind for activity, and degrades him to a condition little above that of a beast of burden. The Sabbath, then, must be viewed in its relation to every part of man’s nature, in its influence upon him as a whole, before we can fully appreciate even the merely temporal benefits it is calculated to confer upon the human family.
Some have said, that another arrangement would be more beneficial,--that, were more time for repose allotted to each day without a Sabbath, the purposes of Sabbath rest would be more fully attained. Were the Sabbath a human institution, appointed by earthly legislators, for purposes relating to this life, this point might be open to discussion. As it is not the institution of man, however, but that of our all-wise Creator, I shall merely ask those who advocate such a change, how they propose to bring it about? and how preserve it, when once obtained? Is it not that the Sabbath claims to be an institution of Heaven, and thus laying hold of man’s conscience, ensures attention to its demands from all who fear God and tremble at his word--is it not its appearing in this character which secures to it any degree of attention and respect from society? It is the influences of the Sabbath which will yet introduce a better regulated system of labour during the week; and he who would abolish it as a step towards such an improvement, flings away the most safe and certain means of accomplishing his object.
It is only by the advancement of the labouring classes themselves in intelligence and civilization, that any really important or beneficial change can ever take place in the regulation of labour; but even were such a change effected, were the hours of daily toil considerably shortened, would there not still be abundant room for a Sabbath? How are the moral and intellectual character, the tastes and habits of working men to be elevated, without the opportunities and the influences of this institution?
He who would abolish the Sabbath, and distribute its hours among the days of the week, that he might increase the comfort, and improve the character and the condition of working men, would act as a builder would do, who should dig up the foundations of a house, that he might obtain materials wherewith to finish its upper story. Religion, like the Father of lights, from whom it emanates, bestows abundance of blessings upon many who know not the bounteous Hand from whence they come; and the Sabbath, one of its most glorious and beneficent institutions, confers numerous benefits even upon that portion of society who, trifling with its sacred obligations, and spurning its salutary restraints, fail to reap from it that amount of good which it is so well calculated to afford them.
We can form no just estimate of what the condition and circumstances of the human race would have been, if left entirely destitute of religion, from our intercourse with those who, though perversely refusing submission to its government, have, while their being was dawning, their mind and habits forming, been surrounded by its light and influences, and who, in their childhood and youth, have partaken largely of the blessings which this heaven-bestowed institution, the Christian Sabbath, affords. No; it is only from the condition and character of those tribes of mankind who have little or no vestige of revelation among them, that we are enabled to form a correct idea of what our state would have been, had the pure light of Christianity never dawned upon us. So, in like manner, in judging of the importance of this Divine institution, we must compare the condition and the habits of a labouring population who have never known a Sabbath, whose bodies the Sabbath rest has never refreshed, and whose minds Sabbath instruction and Sabbath exercise have, to no extent, strengthened or cultivated, awakened or enlightened. We must compare their character and condition, their hearths and homes, with the hearths and homes, the state and character, not of the mere Sabbath sleeper, or Sabbath dresser, or even of the mere church attender or sermon hearer, but of those who, with activity and energy, avail themselves of all the opportunities of self-improvement and family culture which the Christian Sabbath is so well fitted to afford, before we can have any correct idea of even the merely temporal benefits which the Sabbath is calculated to confer upon the labouring population, or of the immense loss its discontinuance would prove to the temporal interests of society.
Even as a cessation from labour, as a rest to the worn-out frame, the Sabbath is no trifling boon to the bowed-down sons of toil. When we look upon it merely as a day on which the most toil-worn drudge unchidden may stretch his wearied limbs upon the couch of rest; whereon the most dusty, sweaty, dirt-smeared endurer of the consequences of man’s transgression may wash himself clean, dress genteelly, and enjoy the society of his fellow-men; a day when he, who, during the six days of labour, must eat his dry, cold, hurried, and comfortless dinner alone, can sit in leisure and comfort, in the society of beloved relatives, with the clean, shining, glad faces of his little ones around him, and his wife, clean and neat, as upon her bridal-day, by his side, and enjoy his neatly-prepared, though homely, repast; a day when brothers and sisters, early forced, by necessity, from the parental roof, to seek a hard-earned subsistence elsewhere, may weekly enjoy each other’s society amid the blessed influences of the home of their childhood--the Sabbath, though looked upon as bestowing only privileges like these upon working men, must command the respect of every enlightened and philanthropic mind. But when viewed as a day in which all this is associated with the hallowed influences of religion--in which man enjoys the pleasures of social intercourse blended with, and elevated by, the most sacred and purifying associations--in which the body enjoys repose, not only that the mind may be fitted for exertion, but that it may engage in the study of subjects supremely important to man, that it may apply itself to the contemplation of themes the most sublime and interesting--a day in which men not only meet together that they may be instructed, strengthened, and refined, by intercourse with each other, that mind may have communion with mind, and heart with heart; but in which they are invited to meet with God himself; that their minds may have communion with His mind, and their hearts with His heart; that they may be instructed, strengthened, and refined, by the wisdom and love of God; that they may be moulded in His image, and renewed in His likeness;--it seems strange that any one who believes man to be possessed of a moral and intellectual nature, capable of improvement, should set light by, or trifle with, such an institution; and passing strange, that those who name the name of Christ, who profess to be His followers who emphatically taught that the Sabbath was made for man, should despise such a privilege, fling away its hallowed restraints, and disregard its sacred obligations.
It needs but a glance at the toilsome life of our rural or our manufacturing population, to convince any one that the Sabbath, viewed merely in relation to man’s temporal well-being, is of great value to the working man. The important influence which the frequent return of such a day, with all its cheering and inspiriting exercises and associations, must have upon the health of those who observe it, is not to be overlooked. The wearied frame is refreshed and invigorated, the depressed spirits enlivened, and the flagging energy restored;--while its public observances call for such attention to personal appearance as cannot fail to have a beneficial effect at once upon the habits and the constitution, as also to form a strong inducement to exertion for the improvement of their condition. Hence it is, that, when we enter the house of the church-going, Sabbath-keeping labourer, we generally find a marked difference between it and the home of him who rarely or never enters a place of worship, and who regards not the sacred claims of the day.
In the house of the Sabbath-observing, church-attending labourer--even though, as is too often the case, he should know little or nothing of the vital power of religion, though his observance be mere outward observance, and his religion but form--we observe useful, though sometimes rude furniture, clothing, and food, cleanliness and comfort, a cheerful fire on the hearth, and a few books on the shelf; everything indicating some little relish for the conveniences and comforts of civilized life.
On Saturday evening, there is washing of little faces, combing and brushing of flaxen heads, laying out of clean little frocks and pinafores, or jet black shoes set ready for little feet, that, without hurry or confusion, clean and neat, they may be ready on Sabbath morning to accompany father or mother, or, if possible, both, to the place
“Where Christians meet to praise and pray, To hear of heaven, and learn the way;”
or that they may trip joyously to their beloved Sabbath-school, there to sing of that happy land where every eye is bright, of that glorious city, the streets of which are of pure gold, where the water of life is continually flowing in a broad river, clear as crystal, from the throne of God and of the Lamb, into which nothing that defileth can enter, neither whatsoever loveth or maketh a lie; to learn, that to depart from evil is the highway to those blessed mansions of love, and joy, and life everlasting--that that highway is called holiness; and to be told, in childhood’s own simple language, of the love of Him who is himself the way, for he shall save his people from their sins; how he said, “Suffer little children to come unto me,” and took them up in his arms, and blessed them; how, when they have journeyed along the rugged path of this toilsome life, those that come unto God by him shall never again taste of death or sorrow, pain or disease; for the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
What do we find in the place of all this, in the home, and among the children of the working man who profanes the sacred hours of the Sabbath? Squalor and wretchedness force themselves upon our observation. The appearance of the house and its inmates tell, in language not to be mistaken, what would be the condition of working men, were this blessed day, with all its exalting and purifying influences, set aside. How often, on Saturday night, are the children tossed into bed unwashed and uncombed, while the mother puts their few rags of clothing in the washing-tub, and then hangs them up by the dusty hearth, that they may be dry in the morning! Even this little attention to cleanliness, partial as it is, is of some benefit, and the benefit, so far as it goes, is from the Sabbath; for, were it not for that regard to appearance, and those ideas of decency which the public observances of the Sabbath have introduced, the skin and the clothing of the working man and his children would seldom indeed be subjected to the refreshing and purifying process of washing.
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See page 74]
Of the truth of this, did the limits of this little essay permit, or did the time and circumstances of the writer allow of such researches, I venture to affirm that abundant evidence could be presented from the state and habits, in regard to personal cleanliness, of the labouring population of any country where the Sabbath is disregarded, as compared with the condition and habits of the same class in countries where the Sabbath is observed as a day of public assembly for religious worship; or from the habits of the lower classes of our own, or of any other country, before the introduction of the Christian Sabbath, as compared with their habits in this respect, after the Sabbath has been for some time received and regarded among them, as at once a day of cessation from ordinary labour, and a season for public religious observances. And if the important influence which cleanliness has upon health and comfort be taken into account, the improvement of their habits in this respect will be allowed to be no trifling advantage resulting from the Sabbath to the labouring population.
But to return to the family where the Sabbath is not regarded as a day sacred to the worship of God: how frequently do we find the father, with his equally reckless companions, taking on Saturday evening his seat in the house of the spirit-dealer, there to waste, in the gratification of his debased and depraved appetite, his hard-earned wages! But what need to describe the Sabbath hours of such a family? Who that has been at all conversant with the labouring population of this country, but has witnessed the comfortless and fretful confusion of the morning? while the succeeding hours are devoted to the preparation of the noonday meal, the one great feast of the week; and, perchance, the fields, the public promenade, or a trip by railway to some place of public resort, is the occupation of the evening. And thus are all the rich opportunities which such a day affords for self-improvement and family culture, trampled under foot. And what is the condition of the children of such parents? Do they not grow up in ignorance and vice, in utter neglect, unless, indeed, they are gathered together for Sabbath instruction by the enlightened and benevolent, who would seek to do what in them lies to rescue their fellow-creatures from ignorance and degradation? This, however, will but slightly supply the want of the fireside instruction of a Sabbath-keeping family; and is it likely that these children will ever attain to that degree of mental culture, or be governed by those moral principles which would enable them to obtain an equal standing in society with the children of those who conscientiously observe the Lord’s-day? Let those who think so, enter the house of him who keeps holy the Lord’s-day, and the home of the Sabbath-breaker; let them converse with their children, observe their habits, and then answer. Those who feel inclined to trifle with the sacred obligations of this day would do well to consider, ere they slight its beneficial restraints, what a blessed privilege they fling away--what a glorious birthright they would barter for less than a mess of pottage! A birthright, the due appreciation and the proper use of which would soon enable them to cast off that yoke of bondage, those servile feelings, with which the working classes too often regard their superiors in circumstances; would enable them to stand erect and unabashed in the presence of their fellow-man, whatever his wealth or rank, as brother in the presence of brother; would give them power of their own minds--a conscience illuminated by the light of heaven, and unfettered by subjection to man. Moreover, if the imbecility of mind, the consequent limitation of resource, and liability to become the dupes of imposture, the tools of crafty, selfish, and unprincipled men, be considered, which usually result from the dependence of one class of men upon the mind and will of another class, this will appear to be no mean advantage, as regards temporal condition, which the proper observance of the Sabbath is calculated to confer upon the labouring population. For proof that such happy results do invariably follow the introduction of the Sabbath among the working classes, in proportion to its proper observance, we have only to glance at the character and condition of the people in countries where the Sabbath is, in some measure, rightly understood and observed, as compared with the state of the people in lands where the Lord’s day is unknown, or devoted to mere amusement.
The rest of the Sabbath is invaluable to the labourer who is desirous of cultivating his own mind by study, of strengthening and gaining the control of his intellectual powers, or of increasing his stock of knowledge by reading. When he returns from his daily labour, to enjoy his brief hour of leisure in the evening, his system is too much exhausted by his previous exertion, and, consequently, his animal spirits too much depressed, for close application of mind or energy of thought. If he attempt to peruse any really serious and useful author, he not unfrequently falls asleep with the book in his hand. The lighter pages of the novelist, with their intellectual intoxication, and too often pernicious views of human life and human nature, may be able, by their excitement, to overcome, for a time, his fatigue; and, therefore, if he reads at all, for these, the works of the natural and moral philosopher, of the historian, the moralist, and the theologian, are laid aside; and thus his moral and intellectual nature, not receiving wholesome food or healthful exercise, becomes weak and diseased, and unfitted to fulfil the offices of enlightening him; his passions and appetites, unrestrained by an enlightened conscience and cultivated understanding, lead him captive at their will; and his whole character and condition strikingly prove, that, as a general rule, the degradation of one part of man’s nature is the degradation of the whole.
Is his temporal condition abject, his body subjected to unremitting toil?--his intellectual condition, too, is debased, and his mind enslaved. Is his intellect uncultivated, and his moral nature vitiated?--his outward appearance[2] and condition are degraded, rude, and comfortless. The Sabbath, by the repose it affords, not only renews man’s physical energy, renovates his animal system, it also qualifies his mind to apply itself to self-culture and to the acquisition of solid and useful knowledge. Nor does it stop here--it leaves him not unaided and unguided to grope in darkness for the knowledge which is essential to his well-being; it pours upon his path a flood of light, opens wide the gate of knowledge, and bids him enter. It leaves him not to mope alone over the dreamy speculations of sceptical philosophers who have attained to no belief, who have no certainty or knowledge, but have chosen their perpetual abode in those gloomy regions of darkness where the dense fogs of doubt are for ever settled, till his mental energy is exhausted and his mind unhinged. No; it calls him forth in exulting joy to seek the society of his fellow-men, that mind may awaken and strengthen mind, and heart warm heart--that they may ponder together the meaning of facts--facts attested by incontrovertible evidence--facts the most sublime and interesting that have ever engaged the attention of man. It calls men together to study, in each other’s society, a system of morality pure and perfect, founded upon these facts. It furnishes him with subjects surpassingly glorious, in the contemplation of which he may exert and cultivate his intellectual powers. It inspires him with hopes which give him fortitude to endure the unavoidable evils of his condition, and energy to surmount its difficulties. Yes, the Lord’s day, with its communion with God, its memorials, its exercises, its instructions, and its social intercourse, ever as it returns gives a fresh impulse to human advancement. It is, truly, a fountain whence spring innumerable benefits.
[2] This is strikingly verified by LAVATER, in his celebrated work on Physiognomy.--ED.
Not only does each returning Sabbath give a new and powerful impetus to man’s advancement in his heavenward course; but in so doing, it urges him onward and upward in civilization, refinement and comfort.
A day of rest, of cessation from active and toilsome exertion, is, doubtless, as ministering to the health and vigour of the animal system, of immense value to working men. I have no hesitation, however, in affirming, that, amongst those who view it in no other light than as a day of rest and recreation, as a season set apart to no higher purpose than that of refreshing and invigorating the body, it generally fails of accomplishing even this: they almost invariably devote the day to the service of their divers lusts and pleasures, while the neglected appearance of their families, and the jaded and abused state of their bodies, wofully testify to the degrading effects of misusing its hallowed hours; and clearly demonstrate, that it is “_the Sabbath of the Lord_,” the Lord’s day alone, as appointed by himself, which is really calculated to benefit mankind, and not a day of man’s devising. And why? Because the Sabbath-day is appointed by our all-wise Creator, by Him who knoweth what is in man, and what is needful for man. And it is exactly suited to man--it meets the wants at once of his physical and intellectual constitution, and of his social and spiritual nature. He who wears purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously every day, whose hand has never been hardened, nor his brow moistened by toil, whose every day makes him the companion and instructor of his family, and who, fresh and unwearied, can seat himself in his quiet study, and enjoy his daily returning hours of leisure, may slight the obligations of the Sabbath, and break loose from its restraints, without, in the eye of his fellow-man, appearing to suffer in mind, character, or condition. But on him whose daily returning wants call for strenuous and incessant exertion, that they may obtain a needful supply, the abuse of Sabbath hours is soon visible in a beggared and degraded mind, a depraved moral character, and a consequently degraded condition in society; in squalid, untrained children, and a comfortless home; and not unfrequently, in absolute want of the very necessaries of life.