The institution of keeping the seventh day holy was wisely ordered by
Providence for two purposes. To rest the body, and call off the mind
from the too eager pursuit of the shadows of this life, which, I am
afraid, often obscure the prospect of futurity, and fix our thoughts on
earth. A respect for this ordinance is, I am persuaded, of the utmost
consequence to national religion. The vulgar have such a notion of it,
that with them, going to church, and being religious, are almost
synonymous terms. They are so lost in their senses, that if this day did
not continually remind them, they would soon forget that there was a God
in the world. Some forms are necessary to support vital religion, and
without them it would soon languish, and at last expire.
It is unfortunate, that this day is either kept with puritanical
exactness, which renders it very irksome, or lost in dissipation and
thoughtlessness. Either way is very prejudicial to the minds of children
and servants, who ought not to be let run wild, not confined too
strictly; and, above all, should not see their parents or masters
indulge themselves in things which are generally thought wrong. I am
fully persuaded, that servants have such a notion of card-playing, that
where-ever it is practised of a Sunday their minds are hurt; and the
barrier between good and evil in some measure broken down. Servants, who
are accustomed to bodily labour, will fall into as laborious pleasures,
if they are not gently restrained, and some substitute found out for
them.
Such a close attention to a family may appear to many very disagreeable;
but the path of duty will be found pleasant after some time; and the
passions being employed this way, will, by degrees, come under the
subjection of reason. I mean not to be rigid, the obstructions which
arise in the way of our duty, do not strike a speculatist; I know, too,
that in the moment of action, even a well-disposed mind is often carried
away by the present impulse, and that it requires some experience to be
able to distinguish the dictates of reason from those of passion. The
truth is seldom found out until the tumult is over; we then wake as from
a dream, and when we survey what we have done, and feel the folly of it,
we might call on reason and say, why sleepest thou? Yet though people
are led astray by their passions, and even relapse after the most bitter
repentance, they should not despair, but still try to regain the right
road, and cultivate such habits as may assist them.
I never knew much social virtue to reside in a house where the sabbath
was grossly violated.