KEEPING THE SABBATH.
Some people esteem it a hardship to be compelled to keep the Sabbath.
They think it an interference with their liberties, that the state
should make laws to punish them for breaking it. This disposition very
early shows itself in children. Often they think it is hard that they
are restrained from play, or from seeking their pleasure, on the holy
Sabbath. But God did not give us the Sabbath for his own sake, or
because he is benefited by our keeping it. The Bible says, “The Sabbath
was made for man.” God gave us the Sabbath for our benefit, and for
two purposes. He has made us so that we need rest one day in seven.
It has been proved, upon fair trial, that men cannot do as much, nor
preserve their health as well, by laboring seven days in a week, as
they can by laboring six days, and resting one day in a week. If there
were no Sabbath, you would have no day of rest. You would grow weary of
school, if you were obliged to attend and study seven days in a week.
If you are kept at home to work, you would soon tire out, if you had to
labor every day in the week. But, by resting every seventh day, you get
recruited, so that you are able to go on with study or work with new
vigor. The Sabbath, in this respect, is then a great blessing to you;
and you ought to be so thankful to God for it, as to keep it strictly
according to his command.
Another object of the Sabbath is, to give all people an opportunity to
lay aside their worldly cares and business, to worship God and learn
his will. The other design of the Sabbath was, to _benefit the body_;
this is, to _bless the soul_. If there were no Sabbath, people that are
dependent upon others would be obliged to work every day in the week;
and they would have no time to meet together for the worship of God.
And, if every one were allowed to choose his own time for worshipping
God, there would be no agreement. One would be at meeting, another
would be at work, and others would be seeking their pleasure. But, in
order to have every one at liberty to worship God without disturbance,
he has set apart one day in seven for this purpose. On this day, he
requires us to rest from all labor and recreation, and spend its sacred
hours in learning his will, and in acts of devotion. The Sabbath thus
becomes a means of improving the mind and the heart. It furnishes the
best opportunity for social improvement that could be devised. It
brings the people together, in their best attire, to exercise their
minds in understanding divine truth, and their hearts in obeying it.
And the same object, and the same spirit, it carries out in the family.
If, therefore, you ever consider the duties of the holy Sabbath irksome
and unpleasant, or feel uneasy under its restraints, you perceive that
you must be very unreasonable, since they are designed for your good.
You will not, then, find fault with me, if I am rigid in requiring
the strict observance of the Sabbath. One thing I would have you
remember,--_If you would receive the full benefit of the holy Sabbath,
you must form right habits of keeping it, early in life._ To give
it full power over the mind, it must be associated, in our earliest
recollections, with order, quiet, stillness, and solemnity. If you are
in the habit of disregarding it in early life, you lose all the benefit
and enjoyment to be derived from these sacred associations.
The best directions for keeping the Sabbath, any where to be found,
are contained in the thirteenth verse of the fifty-eighth chapter of
Isaiah:--“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy
pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of
the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words--” You must
_turn away your foot from the Sabbath_, not trampling on it by doing
your own pleasure, instead of the pleasure of the Lord. Your foot must
not move to perform any act that is contrary to the design of this
sacred day; and especially, must not go after your own pleasure. You
must not _do your own ways_, nor _find your own pleasure_. These things
may be lawful on other days; but on this day, every thing must have
reference to God. You must not even _speak your own words_. Worldly,
vain, light, or trifling conversation is thus forbidden. And, if you
may not speak your own words, you may not think your own thoughts.
Worldly, vain, trifling thoughts, or thoughts of your pleasure, are
not lawful on God’s holy day. But you must not only _refrain_ from
these things; the Sabbath is not properly kept, unless its sacred
services are a _delight_ to the soul. If you are tired of hearing,
reading, and thinking of the things of another world, you do not keep
the Sabbath according to these directions. To one who enters truly into
the spirit of God’s holy day, it is the most delightful of the seven.
You remember, in the memoir of Phebe Bartlett, it is stated that she so
loved the Sabbath that she would long to have it come, and count the
days intervening before it. Such are the feelings of all who love God
and sacred things.
Having made these general remarks, I will give you a few simple
directions for making the Sabbath both profitable and delightful. The
evening before the Sabbath, do every thing that can be done, to save
doing on the Sabbath. Leave nothing to be done in _God’s time_ that you
can do in your _own time_. Lay out your Sabbath day’s clothing, and see
that it is all in order, that you may have no brushing or mending to
be done Sabbath morning. Rise early in the morning, and, while washing
and dressing, which you will do in as little time as possible, think
of your need of the “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Ghost,” and of being clothed in the clean, white robe of Christ’s
righteousness. Then offer up your thanksgiving to God for his mercy in
preserving your life, and giving you another holy Sabbath, and pray for
his presence and blessing through the day. If you are called by your
father or mother, for any service of the family, go to it cheerfully;
and as soon as you can retire again, read a portion of Scripture, and
pray to God for such particular blessings upon yourself as you feel
your need of, and for his blessing upon others on his holy day. If you
attend the Sabbath school, you will need to look over your lesson for
the day, and endeavor to apply it to your own heart; for I suppose you
do not put off the study of your lesson till Sabbath morning.
Never stay at home on the Sabbath, unless you are necessarily detained.
Make it a matter of principle and calculation always to be there.
On your way to the house of God, do not engage in any unnecessary
conversation, especially that which is vain, light, or trifling, to
divert your mind, and unfit you for the worship of God. Do not stand
about the doors of the meeting-house, to salute your friends, or to
converse with your young companions. This practice, I am sorry to say,
prevails in the country, among young people of both sexes, to the great
annoyance of well-bred people. It is a great temptation to conversation
improper for the Sabbath. It is very unpleasant for people who are
passing, to have the way blocked up, so as to have to press through a
crowd. Neither do people like to be _stared at_, by a company of rude
young people, as they pass into the house of God. I am sorry to admit,
also, that this unmannerly practice is not confined to youth; but that
many elderly people set the example. Instead of doing so, go directly
to your seat, in a quiet, reverent manner; and if any time intervenes
before the commencement of public worship, do not spend it in gazing
about the house, to observe the dress of different persons; but take
the opportunity to compose your mind, to call in all vagrant thoughts,
to get your heart impressed with a sense of God’s presence, and to lift
up your soul in silent prayer for his blessing. Or, if the time be
long, you can employ a part of it in reading the Bible, or devotional
hymns. But do not carry any other book to the house of worship to be
read there. If you have a Sabbath school library book, it will be
better not to read it at such a time, because you will be likely to
get your mind filled with it, so as to interfere with the services
of the sanctuary. But the Bible and hymn book, being of a devotional
character, will tend to prepare your mind for worship. Above all, do
not read a newspaper, of any kind, at such a time. Even a religious
newspaper would tend to divert your mind from that serious, tender,
devout frame, which you ought to possess when you engage in the solemn
public worship of the Great Jehovah. But I have often witnessed more
serious improprieties, in the house of God, than any of these. I have
seen young people whispering and laughing during the sermon; and it is
a very common thing to see them gazing about during the singing, as
though they had nothing to do with the service. I have also seen them
engaged in reading, in the time of sermon, or of singing. Some, also,
are seen, in time of prayer, with their eyes wide open, gazing about.
Such conduct would be very unmannerly, if nobody were concerned but the
minister; for it is treating him as though he were not worthy of your
attention. But when it is considered that he speaks to you _in the name
of God_, and that, in prayer, while you stand up with the congregation,
you profess to join in the prayer; and while the hymn is sung, you
profess to exercise the devout feeling which it expresses,--when all
these things are considered, such conduct as that I have described
appears impious in a high degree.
Instead of being guilty of such improprieties, you will endeavor, from
the heart, to join in the sentiments expressed in prayer and praise;
and listen to the sermon with all attention, as a message sent from
God to you. You must not think that the sermon is designed for older
people, and therefore you have nothing to do with it; nor take up the
notion that sermons are too dry and uninteresting to engage your
attention. The minister speaks _to you_, in the name of God, those
great truths which concern the salvation of the soul. Can they be of
no interest to you? Have you not a soul to be saved or lost? Nor need
you think that you cannot understand the sermon. If you _give your
attention_, you can understand a sermon as well as you can understand
the lessons you are required every day to study at school. If you do
not understand preaching, it is because you do not give your mind to
it, and hear with attention. Your mind is here and there, “walking to
and fro in the earth, and going up and down in it;” and you only catch,
here and there, a sentence of the sermon. This is the reason you do
not understand it. Endeavor to examine your heart and life by what you
hear, and to apply it to yourself in such a way as to be benefitted by
it. And, when you leave the house of God, do not immediately engage in
conversation, and by this means dissipate all impression; but, as far
as possible, go home in silence, and retire to your closet, to seek
the blessing of God upon the services of his house, on which you have
attended.
I suppose, of course, that you attend the Sabbath school. I think it a
great advantage to those who rightly improve it. But, like every other
privilege, it may be so neglected or abused as to be of no benefit. If
you pay no attention to the Sabbath school lesson at home, your mere
attendance upon the recitation at school will do you little good. You
will feel little interest, and receive little profit. But, if you make
it the occasion for the faithful study of the Holy Scriptures at home,
to ascertain their meaning, and to become acquainted with the great
truths of Christianity, it will be of great service to you in forming
your Christian character.
Having well and thoroughly studied your Sabbath school lesson, you
will then be prepared to engage in the recitation with interest. In
the Sabbath school, you will observe the same general directions for
propriety of behavior as in public worship. You are to remember that
it is the holy Sabbath, and that the Sabbath school is a religious
meeting. All lightness of manner is out of place. A serious deportment
is necessary, if you would profit by it. Courtesy to your teacher,
and to the school, also requires that you should give your attention,
and not be conversing or reading during the recitation, or while your
teacher is speaking to you. In answering the questions, you should be
full and explicit; not merely making the briefest possible reply, but
entering into the subject with interest. But be careful that you do
not give indulgence to a self-confident, conceited spirit, nor appear
as if you thought yourself wiser than your teacher. Such a spirit
indulged will have an injurious influence in the formation of your
character, and will make you an object of disgust to sensible people.
Some young people, when a little past the period of childhood, begin
to feel as if they were too old to attend the Sabbath school, and so
gradually absent themselves, and finally leave it altogether. This
arises from a mistaken notion as to the design of the Sabbath school.
It is not a school _for children merely_; but a school for all classes
of people, to engage in the study of the most wonderful book in the
world. I hope you will never think of leaving the Sabbath school, as
long as you are able to attend it. If you do, you will suffer a loss
which you will regret as long as you live.
If you remain at the house of worship between the Sabbath school
and the afternoon service, as many do in the country, you will be
exposed to temptations to profane the Sabbath. To prevent this, avoid
meeting with your companions, in groups, for conversation. However
well-disposed you may be, you can hardly avoid being drawn into
conversation unsuitable for the holy Sabbath. If you take a book from
the Sabbath school library, this will be a suitable time to read it, if
you are careful not to extend the reading into the afternoon service,
or suffer your thoughts to be diverted by what you have read. But the
practice of reading the Sabbath school books during divine service,
which prevails among children, and even with some young men and women,
is not only very irreverent, but a gross violation of good breeding. It
is slighting the service of God, and treating the minister as though
they thought what he has to say to them not worth their attention.
You ought to have a particular time set apart for the study of your
Sabbath school lesson. I should prefer that this be taken during the
week, so as not to task your mind too severely on the Sabbath with
_study_, inasmuch as it is a day of _rest_. But, if you cannot do this,
I should advise that you study it Sabbath afternoon, and review it the
next Sabbath morning.
Some portion of the Sabbath afternoon, or evening, you will employ,
under the direction of your parents, in repeating the Catechism, which,
I hope none of my readers will consider beneath their attention. “_The
Shorter Catechism_,” next to the Bible, I regard as the best book
in existence to lay the foundation of a strong and solid religious
character. If you get it thoroughly committed to memory, so as to be
able to repeat it verbatim from beginning to end, you will never regret
it; but, as long as you live, you will have occasion to rejoice in it.
I cannot now give you any adequate idea of the benefit you will derive
from it. These catechetical exercises in your father’s house will be
associated, in your mind, with the most precious recollections of your
early years. As I said with regard to your Sabbath school lessons,
and for the same reason, I should advise you, if possible, to study
the portion of the Catechism to be recited, during the week. But if
you cannot do so, it should be studied on the afternoon or evening of
the Sabbath. If, however, you study these lessons in the week time,
you will be able to spend the afternoon and evening of the Sabbath,
except what is devoted to family worship and repeating the Catechism,
in reading serious and devotional books, which will not tax your mind
so much. If you are engaged in study all the week, your mind will need
rest. Therefore, I would have you prosecute your _religious study_
during the week, and let your mind be taxed less on the Sabbath,
reading such books and engaging in such services as are calculated more
to affect the heart, than to tax the mind. You ought to spend more
time than usual, on God’s holy day, in your closet, in reading the
Scriptures and prayer. But, besides the Bible, I would particularly
recommend Religious Biographies, and such works as Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s
Progress” and “Holy War,” D’Aubigne’s “History of the Reformation,” &c.
But secular history, or any books or papers of a secular character,
should not be read on the holy Sabbath. In general, you may safely
read, on Sabbath afternoon, the books that you find in the Sabbath
school library; though it will sometimes happen that a book creeps into
the library that is not suitable for this sacred day. A portion of the
evening of the Sabbath, before retiring to rest, should be spent in
reviewing the day, recollecting the sermons, examining how you have
kept the day, and seeking in prayer the pardon of what has been amiss,
and God’s blessing on all the services in which you have been engaged.
A Sabbath thus spent will be a blessing to you, not only for the six
days following, but as long as you live. It will contribute to the
formation of religious habits that you will be thankful for to the
day of your death. And when you become accustomed to spending your
Sabbaths thus, so far from finding them long and tedious days, you
will find them the most delightful of the seven, and will only regret
that they are TOO SHORT--they come to an end before you have finished
all the good designs you have formed.
The fact that God has set apart a day to himself, and commanded us to
keep it holy, would naturally lead us to conclude that he would order
his Providence so as to favor its observance. We have only need to
examine the subject to be convinced that he does so. When his ancient
people, the children of Israel, refused to keep his Sabbaths, and
trampled his holy day under foot, he emptied them out of the land,
and caused them to be carried off into a strange country, and to
remain there seventy years. This was threatened in Leviticus xxvi.
34, 35:--“Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth
desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land
rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate, it shall
rest; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.”
In 2 Ch. xxxvi. 20, 21, this is referred to as one of the principal
reasons why they were carried away to Babylon:--“And them that escaped
the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him
and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfil the
word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, until the land
had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate, she kept
Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.”
I can think of no reason why God, in his holy Providence, should not
punish Sabbath-breakers now as well as then. I have no doubt that he
does. If we could see the design of his Providence, as it is explained
in the Bible, no one would doubt it. Sir Matthew Hale, after a long and
laborious public life, declared, as the result of his experience, that
he found his affairs prosper, during the week, just in proportion to
the strictness with which he had observed the Sabbath; and that he had
never met with success in any business which was planned on the Sabbath.
I might fill this book with narratives of accidents that have happened
to young people, while seeking their pleasure on the Lord’s day.
Scarcely a week occurs, in the summer season, but the papers contain
accounts of parties of young people drowned while taking Sabbath
excursions on the water, or of young men and boys drowned while bathing
on the Lord’s day. Many very striking accounts of this kind have been
collected and published in tracts. And a great many facts of a more
general nature have also been published, in various forms, showing
that it is _profitable_ to keep the Sabbath, and _unprofitable_ and
dangerous to break it. My object, in this place, is simply to impress
on the minds of my readers the very important influence which the
proper observance of the Sabbath has in the _formation of character_.
And I wish them to follow the youth through life who has been
accustomed to keep the Sabbath, and who continues to keep it; and then
follow the course of one who has, in early life, been accustomed to
disregard God’s holy day. And one thought, in particular, I desire you
to ponder well,--_The Sabbath-breaker cannot expect God’s protection._
And, if God forsakes you, what will become of you?
A party of young people set out for a sail, on the Sabbath day. One of
the young ladies told her brother that she felt very bad to think she
was breaking the Sabbath, and she must return home. But he entreated
her not to spoil his pleasure, for he should not enjoy it, unless she
went with him; and to please him she consented to go. The boat was
upset, and she was drowned. The distracted brother now gave vent to
his grief in the most bitter lamentation. He had been the means of her
death. There he stood, wringing his hands in agony, and exclaiming, “O!
what shall I do! How can I see my father’s face!”
There was a boy in Boston, the son of respectable parents, who gave
promise of becoming a respectable and useful man. He stood well in
school, and had the reputation of being a good scholar. He attended
the Sabbath school, and appeared to be a good boy. His mother was
endeavoring to bring him up in the way he should go. But, on one
Sabbath, he was persuaded by some bad boys not to go to Sabbath
school, but to go with them to Chelsea. This was his first step in the
down-hill road. The next thing was, to conceal his conduct from his
mother. She asked him if he had been to Sabbath school, and he said he
had. Then she asked him for the text. He repeated a text; and as she
was not able to go that afternoon, she could not detect his deception.
He also pretended to repeat parts of the sermon, in order to blind her
eyes. She was satisfied, supposing he had been at Sabbath school and
meeting, secure from temptation. Finding he had succeeded so well in
deceiving his mother, he continued to seek his pleasure on God’s holy
day, and to repeat his deceptions to his mother, making her believe
that he had been at Sabbath school and meeting. He went on so for some
time, hardening himself in sin, and associating with bad boys, till he
became ripe for mischief and crime. He was employed by the publisher
of a paper, as an errand boy. One part of his duty was to bring letters
and papers from the post-office. While thus engaged, he learned that
money frequently came to his employer in letters. After a while, he
left this employment. The money in the letters now tempted him. Having
hardened his heart by breaking the Sabbath, associating with bad boys,
and deceiving his mother, he had not strength of principle to resist.
He continued to receive the letters, robbing them of their contents.
At length he was detected, and sent to prison for two years. The
gentleman who related this to me said he went one day to the prison,
and there he saw the boy’s mother and sister, talking with him through
an iron-grated window, and weeping as though they would break their
hearts. All this came upon him by his seeking his pleasure on God’s
holy day. And if you knew the history of those who have been imprisoned
for crime, you would find a great many such cases. If he had turned
away his foot from the Sabbath, from seeking his pleasure on this holy
day, he might have been sitting with his mother and sister in their
own quiet home, instead of being locked up in a filthy prison, with a
company of hardened criminals.