The Pearl of Days.
“The Sundays of man’s life,
Threaded together on Time’s string,
Make bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the eternal glorious King.
On Sundays heaven’s door stands ope,
Blessings are plentiful and rife,
More plentiful than hope.”
GEORGE HERBERT.
[Illustration]
THE
PEARL OF DAYS:
OR,
THE ADVANTAGES OF THE SABBATH TO
THE WORKING CLASSES
BY A LABOURER’S DAUGHTER.
WITH A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR’S LIFE, BY HERSELF,
AND
A Preface by an American Clergyman.
NEW-YORK:
EDWARD H. FLETCHER, 141 NASSAU STREET.
MDCCCL.
[Illustration]
TO THE
=Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty=:
Madam--
Humble as is this tribute of loyalty, it is not without significance.
No sovereign ever presented stronger claims to the love and
allegiance of her industrious subjects; and it tells how happy is our
Constitution, and how condescending is our Monarch, that pages written
by a labourer’s daughter should find a Patron in the Queen.
Nor will the Tract itself be without its interest to your Majesty,
to whose Royal Halls such glory is added by the piety, virtue, and
domestic affections so often found in Britain’s lowliest homes.
This Tract discusses the Temporal Advantages of the Sabbath Day. The
same topic has recently engaged the pens of nearly a thousand working
men. And it is not the least advantage of the Lord’s day, that every
labourer who learns to keep it holy is another peaceful citizen gained
to the community, and another added to those best subjects who, in
their weekly assemblies, pray, GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.
I have the honour to be
Your Majesty’s
Most obedient and very humble Servant,
THE PROPOSER OF THE ESSAY.
JULY, 1848.
PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
I have been requested by the publisher to introduce this little volume
to the notice of American readers. “THE PEARL OF DAYS; _The Advantages
of the Sabbath to the Working Classes_. By a Labourer’s Daughter.” How
much is expressed in such a title-page! Does the book realize the hopes
which at once suggest themselves to the intelligent and benevolent mind?
To do this, the book should indicate on the part of the author a
degree of cultivation not usual in her sphere of life, and attest
this cultivation as the fruit of proper Sabbath observance. And such
cannot fail to be the results to which every reader will arrive. These
pages will reveal a mind of singular discipline and acuteness, of
large observation and much philosophical power,--a heart imbued with
sentiments of devout and cheerful piety, contented with its lot on
earth, and looking for its better inheritance in heaven;--and all these
in necessary connection with a domestic training, in which a labouring
man’s cottage illustrates the true idea of the Christian Sabbath.
I commend the “Pearl of Days” to readers of every class, but
particularly I commend it
I. TO PARENTS. To them its Sketch of the Author’s Life will exhibit
hints and illustrations pertaining to domestic discipline and
happiness, such as convince by their wisdom, and win by their beauty,
such as adapt themselves equally to the homes of princes and peasants,
and indicate the true methods of training children for any grade of
life in which their lot may be cast.
II. TO THE FRIENDS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS. The evils of society have
awakened the sympathy of the benevolent. The best methods of removing
them, especially of removing such as oppress the working classes, are
subjects which everywhere task the thoughts of the wise and good. Let
all such sit at the feet of the Labourer’s Daughter. She has received
wisdom at the feet of Christ. She teaches the true social regeneration.
Philosophers, economists, statesmen, can develop no theories of
progress so certainly promising and assuring virtue, order, industry,
plenty, concord, happiness.
III. TO THE WORKING CLASSES THEMSELVES. In America, more than in any
other land on earth, the working classes may work out for themselves an
honourable destiny. To a wide extent, these classes are conscious of
their opportunities. Many a mother in the hut of poverty presses her
child to her heart, and anticipates for him a sphere of life higher
than her own. How shall she place his feet in the path which leads to
it? This question starts in her thoughts a thousand times. Here she
may solve it. Asking a higher destiny, the working classes cry, “Who
will show us any good?” And responses come back to them in numberless
forms,--one telling them that their rise in the social scale is to
be secured by the triumph of a political party, or by the success of
certain measures of public policy,--another bidding them seek relief
in “Unions” for the regulation of the wages of labour, and for mutual
protection against the oppressions of employers--and another declaring
that their depression is the fruit of a false social organization, and
will find its remedy in the schemes of “Association.” But these are not
responses of wisdom and truth. The labouring classes must work out
their own rise, through their own intelligence and virtue. Intelligent
and virtuous, they will command respect; they will be neither the dupes
of the designing, nor the slaves of the tyrannical. On these points
they will find this little volume, from one of their own class, full
of counsels gathered from the source of all truth. Let them ponder
thoughtfully its pages.
I need not explain the occasion of the publication of this Essay in
England. That is sufficiently explained in the Introduction which
follows. It has had a large circulation in that country, under the
patronage of the great and good, and dedicated, by her own cheerful
permission, to the excellent woman who sits upon the British throne,
and exalts her lofty position by her exemplary piety. I cannot doubt
that the Essay will be equally acceptable on this side of the water,
and as fruitful in beneficent influences.
_New York, Nov. 15 1848._
INTRODUCTION.
The circumstances out of which the following Essay, with its
accompanying Sketch of the Author’s Life, originated, are as remarkable
as they are deeply interesting and hopeful. Jealous for the honour of
God’s Sabbath, which men of the world were periling--jealous for the
privileges to man conferred by the Sabbath--jealous for the labouring
man, whose feelings respecting the Sabbath were often misrepresented
to his disadvantage, a layman resolved to afford an opportunity for
the working classes to speak their own mind freely on the matter, and
to bear their testimony to the blessings and privileges of the day,
and thereby to the glory of God, the author and giver of it. With
these views, he put forth a proposal, about the end of the year 1847,
offering three prizes--of £25, £15, and £10, respectively--for the
three best Essays on the subject, written by labouring men. Although
this is the first instance upon record of persons of that class being
invited to become competitors in literature, and for literary honours;
and although comparatively a very brief time was allowed for preparing
and sending in the Essays, yet three months--the first three of the
year 1848--sufficed to produce the astonishing number of more than
nine hundred and fifty compositions, manifesting by the single fact,
without reference to the merits of these productions, the wide-spread
interest and deeply-rooted principles with which the holy day of God
is reverenced, loved, and honoured, by the labouring people.
Amongst the Essays received was one from a female, accompanied by a
letter, which will be found at the conclusion of this Introduction,
and which the reader will peruse with interest, as indicating the
habitual tone of Divine and filial piety which pervades the mind of
the writer. The Essay itself was found to be correspondent in tone and
spirit with the letter. It is, indeed, a composition of no ordinary
kind, whether we regard the source from whence it came, the instructive
matter it contains, or the manner in which the materials are worked
up in the composition, and the diction in which they are expressed.
The Adjudicators, although, in faithfulness to the other competitors,
constrained to lay it aside, as the work of a female, yet felt at the
same time that it was a production which ought not to be withheld
from the world, and that it was a duty as much to humanity as to
the talented writer herself, not to suffer it to return to privacy
and forgetfulness. It was, therefore, proposed to her to allow of
its publication, independently of the forthcoming Prize Essays when
adjudged, and she was requested, at the same time, to write a sketch
of her life to prefix to the Essay when published. In both of these
proposals she willingly acquiesced; and the reader has before him two
equally remarkable and interesting compositions, the Essay and the
Sketch.[1]
[1] It may be proper to state, that in preparing the Essay and
Sketch for publication, no liberty has been taken with the author’s
composition, farther than to render the language correct. For the
satisfaction of any persons who may wish to see the manuscript, it can
be inspected at the publishers.--ED.
To an ordinary mind the preparation of the latter would have been even
more difficult than the former. Here was the opportunity for and
danger of egotism. But here also was the opportunity for the exhibition
and proof of real talent, and of genuine piety. To sink self, and
to elevate principles, should be the sole object of autobiography.
To effect this in a sketch is even more difficult than in a tale of
life. It requires the hand of a master to give off with the pencil
those few but telling touches that convert surface into substance, and
place on the blank void forms of life, and grace, and comeliness. And
no less talent does it demand to portray in words those truthful and
instructive scenes which the homes of the godly present, amid which our
authoress lived and was nourished, and of which it may justly be said
that she is herself one of their noblest ornaments.
Our authoress has learned by experience, and has ably developed in her
sketch, some of the most useful and valuable lessons of life. One of
these is beautifully and powerfully given in the following words: “How
often are opportunities of doing small acts of kindness and usefulness
let slip, while we are sighing over our narrow sphere and our limited
means of serving God or benefiting man!” Would it not be a melancholy
and unwholesome sentimentality that should sit down and lament over
itself as having no space capacious enough for its designs, and no
arena worthy of its visions, instead of contenting itself with the many
common opportunities of doing good which every-day life supplies? It
may sound, indeed, well to sigh over oneself in such circumstances,
“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air;”
and, by appropriating the idea to our own condition, hug ourselves with
the fancy that we would, if we might, make ourselves widely useful
in our generation; but far nobler, surely, and far more worthy of our
imitation, is the devout and holy thought expressed in the following
stanza:
“The trivial round, the common task,
Should furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us, daily, nearer God.”
How admirably are brought out, in every part of this Sketch, some of
those lessons most profitable for the wife and the mother to practise!
What a valuable one, for example, is this! My mother “used to say that
it was disagreeable and improper to be bustling about while father was
within; and when he was gone out, the work must be done up.” Oh that
wives and mothers understood and practised this wisely and well! What
different scenes would the cottager’s home present if they did! How
many a man would be saved from the alehouse fireside, where comfort and
convenience are studied to seduce him into sin, if wives and mothers
would but so order their households that when the father returns his
coming shall be welcomed by cleanliness and peace, and his home shall
be made to him the most blessed and grateful place that he can find!
What a beautiful family picture is this whole Sketch! No wonder that
our authoress is capable of being such a daughter, when she has had
such a mother to instruct her. Think, reader, of the child repeating
her lessons beside the wash-tub, and gleaning the rudiments of learning
in so simple a school, and from such a preceptor; and then turn to
the pages of this Sketch and Essay, and as you read, and admire, and
wonder, as you must, adore humbly as you ought, and exclaim, What hath
God wrought! It is His work. It is the edifying effect and power of His
grace. To Him be all the glory and the praise!
LETTER REFERRED TO IN PAGE 15.
“SIR,--I have thought it unnecessary to inquire whether a female might
be permitted to enter among the competitors for the prizes offered
in your advertisement. The subject of the Essay is of equal interest
to woman as to man; and this being the case, I have looked upon your
restriction as merely confining this effort to the working classes.
Whether I judge rightly or not, matters but little; the effort I
have made to gather a few thoughts together upon this subject will
at least be of use to myself; and should you consider these sheets
as containing any thoughts of value, they are at your disposal.
They cannot be expected to be free from errors, both in diction and
orthography, as this is the first effort of the kind I have ever made;
and I may say I am one of those who never enjoyed the advantage of
attending school in early days, except for two years, or rather for
one; for it was but for two years that one of my sisters and myself
attended a sewing-school alternately; one of us remaining at home
one week, to assist mother with household labour, or in attending to
the younger children, and going to school next week, while the other
remained at home. Since that time I have been constantly occupied in
household labour, either in my father’s house, or as a servant in
other families; and thus I may truly say, that all the education I
have enjoyed, was received at the fireside of hard-working parents.
While memory lasts I shall never forget the indefatigable exertions of
our beloved mother to impart intelligence to our minds, and implant
moral principle in her children. How we used to enjoy our Sabbaths!
When our father bent his knees, with his children around, on the
morning of the Lord’s day, how fervently he used to thank the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ for its blessed hours! That father is gone
from among his children; but his voice yet falls upon my ear, and his
form yet rises before my eye, as upon the first day of the week he
used to read to us the sacred page, and lead our devotions.”
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR’S LIFE.
The following sketch of my past history, which, at your request,
I furnish, can be of little interest or value, any farther than
perhaps leading the minds of Christian parents properly to estimate
the importance of the duties devolving upon them, and begetting a
higher appreciation of the value of the weekly rest, as affording
an opportunity to all Christians, however poor their circumstances,
or laborious their employment, of imparting instruction to their
offspring. It may tend also to show that no Christian mother, with
the Bible in her hand, and possessing the power of reading and
understanding the blessed truths it reveals, can plead excuse if
she allow her children to grow up in ignorance of those truths, the
knowledge of which would lead them in safety and happiness through all
the temptations to which youth is exposed in this world of folly and
wickedness.
If she properly estimates the importance of the blessings imparted by
the knowledge of God, and really feels the power of the love of God in
her own heart, poverty may surround her, the pressure of domestic cares
may lie heavily upon her, or she may be engaged in the most menial and
laborious employment, but, in the midst of all this, she will find
opportunity to awaken and enlighten the young minds of her offspring.
It is the duty of Christian parents, in whatever situation in life, to
train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and
it is a duty which they can entrust to no one else without a direct
violation of the command of their Saviour, and incurring a fearful risk
as regards the well-being of their children.
Is it not a strange sight, to see a Christian parent so deeply involved
in business, so engrossed with the cares of this life, or so occupied
with other matters, however important, that he is compelled to entrust
the moral and religious training of his children to a hireling?--a
preacher so much engaged in proclaiming the Gospel to sinners in the
world, that he has no time to lead his own little ones to the feet of
Jesus?--a father so occupied with the improvement of his neighbours,
with Sabbath-schools, prayer and class meetings, or evening lectures
and sermons, that he has no leisure to lead, in proper season, the
devotions of his own little circle at home? Such a man substitutes
his own way for the will of God; and, in so far as he does so, the
consequences will be seen in the future character of his children; and
even he himself will suffer loss in the health of his own soul.
Parents, with the Bible in their hands, and the word of God hidden
in their hearts, having the blessed hours of Sabbath rest as their
birthright, however humble their circumstances or toilsome their life,
can never be entirely destitute of an opportunity for training and
instructing their offspring.
In glancing back on the years of childhood, and tracing the influences
which have surrounded me through youth, I am convinced, that, in so
far as my mind has been awakened to intelligence, and my character
formed to virtue, under God, I owe all to my parents, but especially
to my mother: her earnest and indefatigable exertions, in the face of
difficulties which would have deterred any common mind from attempting
such a task, together with her ceaseless watchfulness, secured for us
such an amount of knowledge, and formed in us such habits, as raised
us above the temptations which usually beset youth in the humble walks
of life. While the constant necessity existed, as soon as we were able
to do anything--for all our exertions toward the support of the family
allowed us little time to cultivate acquaintances, whether injurious or
beneficial--our mother’s constant endeavour was, even through the very
early years of childhood, to keep our hands and heads fully employed.
Memory carries me back to a period when my parents, with five little
ones around them, tenanted an obscure garret in the outskirts of one
of the principal towns of Scotland. By some of those vicissitudes
common to all, my father was, at this time, out of employment;
hardships were endured, pinching want sometimes visited their fireside.
Of these things I have heard, but have no recollection of them, as I
could not then be much more than four years old. Yet a shadowy vision
sometimes rises before me of a broad paved street, along which I was
running on before our father in joyful haste, that I might be the first
to apprise mother that the meeting was dismissed; but as to whether
the place of assembly we had just left was an upper chamber where a
handful of disciples met together, or a large and fashionable edifice,
memory supplies nothing. A dim dreary scene, too, sometimes passes
before me of some back yard or lane where I was standing with my hand
in my father’s, gazing with childish delight, and, at the same time,
with a feeling of awe and admiration, upon the starry heavens. I know
not what, at that moment, led my eye to the bright scene over head; nor
yet what fixed these two incidents of my childhood so indelibly upon my
memory, for they are associated, in my mind, with nothing particular
of which I ever heard any one speak; but they are almost the only
recollections I have of the short time spent in this place.
I think that before this time I must have been pretty far advanced
in reading, as I have no remembrance of ever learning, or having any
difficulty with common books. Our father, at the time alluded to, was
exerting himself to find a settled situation as a gardener, and, in
the mean time, taking whatever work he could get in the small gardens
in the neighbourhood. He was soon noticed as an active and tasteful
gardener, and received into the employment of a gentleman whose
property lay in that part of Scotland known by the name of Strathmore,
or “the great valley.”
The dwelling we now entered was very pleasantly situated near a river
called the South Esk, which flows through that part of the country.
Between it and the highway was a large field, with a belt of trees
on the side next the house; on the other side lay the garden; while
beneath the garden, stretching to the river, was what we used to call
the haugh, a flat little meadow.
Our dwelling in appearance was not unlike one of those houses which are
tenanted by farmers in the south-east of Scotland. Its dimensions, its
blue slated roof, and its smooth grass plot, encircled with a gravel
walk before the door, bespoke it the abode, if not of affluence, at
least of competence. It had not, when planned, been intended as the
abode of a servant, but as a residence for the proprietor’s mother,
who having been removed by death, we were permitted to occupy it.
Had the reader visited that spot in the spring of the year, when the
young plantations were arrayed in bright green, the music of wild
birds welcoming the morning, while the cowslip, the meadow-crocus,
and the primrose studded the banks, and the butter-ball, the wild
geranium, and numberless flowers besides, were shooting up amid the
tangled maze of yellow whins and broom, wild rose, and scented sweet
brier, which covered that little haugh; or had he sauntered down to
the river, walked along the pebbles on its shore, and seen the little
trout sparkling in the sunbeam as it leaped at the insects that sported
upon the surface of the water, he would have called it a pleasant
dwelling-place. It was indeed a sunny spot, and the gay children who
used to ramble at will amid its beauties, were as happy a little band
as could have been found.
Yet, freely though they wandered among the surrounding pleasure
grounds, they were carefully taught to avoid putting their foot in an
improper place, or setting forth a hand to injure shrub or tree; and
this in itself was calculated to form and strengthen in us a habit of
self-restraint. Even in infancy our parents began our moral training;
a prompt and cheerful submission to parental authority was the first
habit they sought to form; and this once accomplished, the instruction
and training of youth are comparatively easy. As soon as we became
capable of understanding the reasons which influenced them in their
conduct towards us, we were taught that our parents were the guardians
placed over us by our Creator, in his kind care for our welfare, and
that it was his will, that to them we should in all things cheerfully
submit ourselves without hesitation or murmuring.
I have often thought, when I have seen children allowed to demand a
reason for every trifling order, numerous reasons and excuses having to
be discussed, and thus a long altercation entered into between parent
and child, in the shape of reasoning, before a lesson could be attended
to, or the most trivial command obeyed, what an incalculable amount of
evil is done to children by such treatment! Not only is time wasted,
but self-will is fostered, and a habit of tardy performance of duty
induced.
Few parents seem to comprehend how soon even a very young child may be
made to understand such language as this: God, who lives in heaven,
made us all; he gave mother her little son that I might take care of
him, be kind to him, and teach him to be good. He says little children
must obey father and mother, and he would be angry with me and punish
me if I allowed my boy to be naughty and disobedient. Such language
firmly and kindly spoken by a parent, even to a very young child,
and steadily and consistently acted upon, will very soon subdue the
self-will of the most wayward, and thus render future training easy to
both parent and child.
Such was, in principle, the training to which we were subjected in
our early years. Obedience--immediate, cheerful obedience, and the
strictest regard to truth, lay at the foundation of all our other
training. A thousand little follies, mistakes, and even graver faults
might be passed over, but disobedience and falsehood were unpardonable.
Yet there was nothing of sternness or severity in the conduct of our
parents towards us. Perhaps no mother ever lavished more fond caresses
upon her children, or exerted herself more to make their time pass
happily, and no father was ever more anxious to secure the comfort and
happiness of his family.
Pleasantly did the days and hours pass over us, during our residence
in this secluded spot: there was no school within reach, and if there
had, our father’s small income would not have allowed our education to
be paid for, without greatly diminishing the comforts of the family;
therefore, it had to be attended to at home. One by one, we used
to take our place beside our mother, read a short lesson, have the
larger words explained to us, when our mother would take the book and
read it over again slowly and distinctly, that we might the better
understand what we had been reading; and then we were at liberty to
indulge in active and healthful amusement, or we were engaged in some
useful and necessary employment. Four times a day, usually, each of
us had our short lesson; and if it be considered that the whole of
the labour of the house devolved upon our mother, it will be believed
that this could be no light task; nothing, however, was allowed to
interrupt our lessons: and it was no uncommon thing to see her busy
at the washing-tub while we by turns took our place beside her; one
child would be found attending to the baby, another gathering sticks
and keeping the fire alive, a third engaged in reading, and a fourth
bringing water from a pure, soft spring, at some distance from the
house; while our eldest brother assisted father in the garden.
Our morning lesson was usually from the Scriptures, but throughout the
day from other books. Our parents were, themselves, as eager to obtain
knowledge as they were anxious to impart it to us. An hour was allowed
for meals: when our father came to breakfast or dinner, as soon as the
repast was finished, (and a working man in health does not usually
loiter over his meals,) our mother used to read aloud till the hour was
finished, either with the youngest child upon her knee, or, if it was
in the cradle, knitting while she read. She used to say, that it was
disagreeable and improper to be bustling about while father was within;
and when he was gone out, the work must be done up.
At these times, books of every kind that came to hand were read,
unless, indeed, there was in their language or morality something very
bad. Nor were any of us, so far as I recollect, ever restricted in our
reading; books of all kinds, which came within our reach, were free to
us. Some may be disposed to condemn this laxity, as they may consider
it; but with the limited means our parents possessed of purchasing
books, and being far distant from any town or village where they might
have had a choice from a library, it was not strange that all that by
any means came to hand should be eagerly perused: books were not then
so plentiful, nor so various, as at present.
Well do I remember my brother finding a torn leaf of a little
school-book in a bush in the haugh--it had been caught there when the
stream was swollen by heavy rains. What a prize it was! one by one,
we committed it to memory, while stretched upon the daisied sward,
during the sunny hours of a summer Sabbath-day; and I do not believe
that there is one of the young group who then learned the beautiful
hymn that stray leaf contained, who does not retain its simple words
indelibly impressed upon the memory, and feel in a renewed heart the
influences of the blessed truths taught in its lines. It was the hymn
beginning,
“Among the deepest shades of night,
Can there be One who sees my way?”
If our parents’ plan of reading, and allowing us to read, all that
came in the way, had any danger in it, it was in our case counteracted
by the free conversation about what was read, which usually followed,
and by the duty constantly inculcated, and practised by themselves, of
reading and searching the Scriptures as the standard by which every
practice, principle and opinion, in religion or morality, must be
tested. We were taught to view the Bible as the words of an infallible
Teacher, by which the instructions of every other were to be tried,
and only to be received in so far as they were in accordance with this
heaven-descended guide: we were, thus early, led to analyse what we
read, to exercise our understandings upon whatever came in our way, and
to receive nothing as truth, until it had been put to the test of the
Divine word.
Our Sabbaths were our happiest days; we were near no place of public
worship--not so near, at least, as to permit any of the children
often to attend. As soon as we were dressed and had breakfasted,
family prayer was attended to, and then our father would point out
some hymn or passage of Scripture which he wished us to learn, when
we would sally forth, book in hand, in different directions, one to
stretch himself upon the soft grass in the field close by, another
to pace backward and forward on the pleasure walk, or to find a seat
in the bough of an old bushy tree; while another would seek a little
summer-house our father had made of heather, and seated round with
the twisted boughs of the glossy birch, each reading aloud till the
allotted lesson was thoroughly fixed upon our minds. If the day was
wet, or if it was the winter season, we would gather around the table
by the window. During the afternoon, mother would read to us, or all
of us, father and mother included, read by turns; questions were then
asked, and conversation entered into, about what we had been reading.
[Illustration:
See page 40]
It was upon one of these occasions, when some remarks made by one of
my parents in endeavouring to call our attention to the truth that
we must be changed, renewed in the image of God; or, to take up the
simple figurative expression then made use of, that we must have _new
hearts_, else we never could be happy with our Father in heaven, that
an impression was made upon my mind, never to be effaced: from that
hour, through all my follies and all my waywardness, the thought of
that new heart still haunted me, until I indeed found peace with God
through Jesus Christ, and felt the renewing power of the truth of God.
Viewing the practice of allowing children to consider their lessons as
a part of their amusement, as pernicious in its tendency, as calculated
to induce a habit of trifling with serious things, and to form a giddy,
frivolous character, our parents never permitted anything like levity
in attending to our lessons; we never were allowed to consider them
as a recreation, but as serious, though cheerful employment, which
must never be trifled with, but seriously and earnestly engaged in.
A uniform veneration for the word of God was evinced by themselves,
and if we read or repeated any part of it, we were taught to do so
seriously; if a hymn was recited, or any piece in which the name of
our Creator might occur, we were accustomed to do so in a solemn and
attentive manner.
We had been about six years in this place, when my father’s master
died, and his lady kindly recommended him to her brother, who was in
want of a gardener. We now removed to the east of Scotland; and our
dwelling, until the death of the former gardener, who was laid aside
by age, was two rooms, rented for us, in the adjoining village. About
two years after our arrival, his decease allowed us to remove to what
was to us a pleasanter abode, as being a little more secluded, but
otherwise possessing little advantage. There, several of us attended
a female school, supported by the lady, for the instruction of the
children of servants upon the estate.
Our attendance, from various causes, was by no means regular; the
necessity for one of us remaining at home, to assist our mother,
prevented regular attendance, and the change from a dry inland
situation, to a low, damp locality, upon the east coast, so affected
our health, that, for many years, the spring of the year turned our
dwelling almost into an hospital. The loss of time and expense incident
upon sickness, in our circumstances, were keenly felt; however,
experience gradually taught us how to manage sickness without so much
medical attendance as we at first required. My brothers procured
employment in the neighbourhood, and I entered the house of my father’s
master.
I had little relish for the society I was thrown into in this place;
all my habits and pursuits were at entire variance with what my
fellow-servants practised; though the light of the Gospel had not yet
entered my mind--it was only struggling for an entrance.
When I now look back to that period of mental conflict, I am convinced
that my darkness and difficulty arose, not from any mystery thrown
around the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel by my teachers, but that
I entertained a secret unwillingness to yield up my own will, and my
own wishes; my heart was divided--I was striving to serve God and
Mammon; the love of the world, and the things of the world, shut out
the light of the glorious Gospel; and it was not till my heart was
subdued by the love of God, till I became willing to do, or be, or
submit to, anything which God required, that I found peace--then I saw
God as my Father in Jesus, receiving me freely, through him; the burden
of guilt was removed, and I was led in the paths of obedience by love.
I had been a few years in my situation, when my mother’s health being
very much impaired, I felt it my duty to return home. There were
now ten of us, besides our father and mother: my eldest brother was
employed in the garden; my second worked with a tradesman in the
neighbourhood; and two of my sisters were employed in the family I
had left; while five younger brothers and sisters were at school. The
eldest of these was soon after engaged by the village teacher as his
assistant.
When at home, our Sabbaths were spent much in the same manner as
formerly, only we had now the opportunity of attending public worship;
and instead of merely conversing, we had begun to try and commit our
thoughts to writing. Our parents would request us to state our reasons
for certain parts of our belief, or our ideas of the meaning of certain
passages of Scripture; we would also, often exert ourselves to give
expression to our thoughts in a verse or two of poetry. At these
times, several of us would apply our minds to one subject, and it was
interesting to observe the different forms our thoughts would assume.
Our mother’s health was re-established, and our circle of acquaintance
widened, but not much, for few in the same walk in life as ourselves
sympathized with us in our pursuits, and we had as little relish
for theirs: our time fully occupied, we never felt the power of the
temptations to evil to which young persons, in the same circumstances,
are usually exposed: we had been carefully taught in early childhood,
that
“Satan finds some mischief still,
For idle hands to do;”
and idle empty hearts, too, he will fill with sin and folly. I firmly
believe, that the only safety from temptation in this world of sin,
in this state of weakness, is to have our hearts full of the love of
God, our understandings enlightened by the truth of God, and our hands
actively engaged in whatever useful employment the providence of God
places within our reach; never sighing over our limited opportunities
of doing good, never repining that we are not placed in situations, and
endowed with talents to do and suffer great things for the cause of
Christ, or fretting, because our opportunities of improvement are few
and small.
This has been my most besetting sin, and the most powerful temptation
to which I have been exposed; and, so far as it has prevailed, it
has lessened my usefulness, and retarded my improvement. Could
we comprehend how great is the blessedness of being permitted to
be fellow-workers with God, we should not thus trifle with the
opportunities afforded us of doing what we can; but feeling that we are
called to an honour and felicity far above anything we can deserve,
eagerly seize the slightest, if it be but to whisper a word of truth in
the ear of the poorest child, to lure on and assist some ignorant one
to spell out and understand a passage, a phrase, or even a word of the
book of God, or even to minister to the comfort and happiness of those
around us in the things of this life. Thus our Father in heaven stooped
to lavish kindness and care upon man’s mortal frame, to throw the
sweets of summer at his feet, and hang the luxuries of autumn overhead,
to enamel the field, to paint the flower, and carve the leaf; and
shall we disdain to lay hold of every opportunity of ministering in the
slightest degree, or in the humblest way, to the comfort and enjoyment
of those around us? And yet how often are opportunities of doing small
acts of kindness and usefulness let slip, while we are sighing over our
narrow sphere and our limited means of serving God, or benefiting man!
For a considerable time our family circle was unbroken; however, by the
marriage, at different times, of four members of the family, six only
remained around our parents. Sorrow might have had a resting-place in
the bosoms of some of that family circle, but to the eye of lookers-on
they were happy as ever. But change, death, and sorrow were to come.
Our beloved father was suddenly and unexpectedly removed from among us,
and a long course of illness in the family followed on his departure.
Illness prevented for a time our removal from the abode which had so
long sheltered us, and where we had spent so many happy days.
At this time, however, we all recovered; but shortly after our removal
to another residence, five of us were again prostrated by fever, and
our youngest sister--our gentle, quiet, affectionate sister, she who
lived but for the happiness of those around her--was removed.
I am now residing with three sisters and our youngest brother, under
the roof of our widowed mother; other two relatives live with us, and
I am still engaged in my old occupation of managing the house, which I
have never quitted since I returned on account of my mother’s health,
except for about two years, when I was in the service of others.
Many sources of enjoyment and comfort have been removed; but the spring
to which our beloved and revered parents led us in our early years,
that fountain whence issued our sweetest and purest enjoyments, is
still open to us, even the well of living waters which never can be
dried up; and though those loved ones are departed, and we cannot
but feel the loss of their society, we are happy in the hope of soon
meeting them, where there are pleasures for evermore. Religion--the
knowledge of God--has been to us our strength and our happiness, the
source of all we have enjoyed worth calling enjoyment: it has been the
sunshine which, in the hour of prosperity, has made earth fair unto us
as the bowers of Eden; and when the darkness of adversity encompassed
us, it has been the star whose beaming indicated the approach of the
morning’s brightness.
=THE PEARL OF DAYS.=
[Illustration]
Man is not left, even in this state of existence, like the lower
animals, to draw his chief happiness from the indulgence of his
appetites, or to be led by the blind, but unerring impulse of
instinct, to his chief good. He is endowed with reasoning powers
and moral sentiments, which require to be enlightened and exercised,
in order to their proper direction and healthful development. His
happiness is as inseparably connected with the cultivation and exercise
of the faculties of his mind, as it is with the healthful development
and proper exercise of his bodily organs. We meet with abundant proof
of this in the state of savage tribes, who shelter themselves in
clay-built hovels, wrap themselves in the skins of beasts, and obtain
a precarious subsistence from the scanty produce of the uncultivated
ground, or the flesh of wild animals. If we compare their means of
sustaining life, their sources of enjoyment, their religious worship,
their daily habits, and their daily labours, in a word, their whole
state, with the state of a civilized and enlightened community--even
could we bring ourselves to look upon man as merely an intelligent and
improvable animal, formed exclusively for this present life--we are
irresistibly led to the conclusion, that whatever tends to elevate or
refine his nature, to give to his reasoning faculties and his moral
sentiments a controlling power over his appetites and propensities,
is of vast importance to his well-being. It guards him from evils to
which, while his animal nature is left without due restraint from his
higher faculties and sentiments, he is exposed, opens to him sources
of enjoyment, and discovers supplies, of which, while his intellectual
nature is uncultivated, he is incapable of availing himself.
The labour to which, in the present state of society, the majority
of the working population of our country is subjected, in order
to obtain their subsistence, is of that incessant and tasking
nature, which, when the daily hours of toil are closed, leaves the
system too much exhausted for mental application or intellectual
enjoyment. Hence, among those of the labouring classes who are not
led by religious principle to avail themselves of the opportunities
for self-improvement which the weekly rest affords, we find, with
comparatively few exceptions, low and degrading pursuits the principal
sources of their amusement; while their highest enjoyments are derived
from the gratification of their appetites and propensities. Nor is
this strange; no one who has for any considerable length of time been
subjected to severe and unremitting toil, whose employment called for
the exertion of his muscular power till real fatigue ensued, will deny,
that, while in such a state, man is equally incapable of availing
himself of the more refined pleasure of social intercourse, or of the
improvement to be derived from mental application; that the craving is
for animal gratification, or nervous excitement; and that a continued
routine of such labour, without the seventh-day rest, would soon sink
the labouring population into a condition worse than that of absolute
barbarism. This is no merely speculative theory; we have only to enter
into social intercourse with those around us, to meet with more than
abundant proofs of its reality.
Were it possible, then, to view man as only formed for this world--as
a mere link in the chain of causation--doing his little part, enjoying
his brief existence, and then reduced again to his original elements,
passing away alike forgetting and forgotten; and were we to regard
the Sabbath as merely a civil institution, the appointment of human
government; even thus separated from all its religious relations, it
would, were it possible for man destitute of the knowledge of God, to
improve the opportunities afforded by it, confer benefits upon working
men which they could not otherwise obtain. The Sabbath limits, to some
extent, the power of employers, whom selfishness and avarice, in not a
few instances, have rendered alike regardless of the comfort and the
health of their servants; and secures to those whose daily avocations
require their absence from the family circle, the pleasures and the
comforts of home; the softening and refining influence of family
relations and domestic intercourse. Its rest refreshes and invigorates
the physical constitution, and affords time to apply the mind to the
attainment of useful knowledge: it ought therefore to command the
respect of all who are sincerely desirous of promoting the improvement
of the working population.
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.
[Illustration:
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.
It might easily be shown, that, among the numerous advantages which the
weekly rest affords the working man, is this, namely, that it gives him
its rest, without diminishing, in any degree, his means of subsistence
and comfort. By preventing the seventh day from being brought into
the labour market, it enables him to procure a remuneration for six
days’ labour equal to that which, were there no such day, he would be
able to obtain for seven. Although those who degrade the Sabbath from
its place as a religious institution, to a day of mere bodily rest
and recreation, enjoy this advantage in common with him who regards
the day in its proper character, as a day set apart for the public
worship of God and the study of his word; yet, they are generally by
far his inferiors in comfort and independence. It is no uncommon thing
to find them, while actually engaged in some kind of employment which
brings higher wages than the occupation followed by their neighbour
obtains, before the close of the week begging or borrowing from him the
necessaries of life. Few will have mingled much among labouring men and
their families, without meeting with many instances of this kind, all
demonstrating the truth of what has already been advanced, that it is
the Christian Sabbath, observed as appointed by our Lord himself, that
can ever really improve even the temporal character of the labourer,
and that no human institution ever can supply its place, or have the
same beneficial influence upon society.
To the husband and father, whose family require his daily labour for
their support, and who is anxious to impart to them that instruction
which is so necessary to the perfect and healthful development of their
mental powers, the Sabbath is of inestimable value. Dearly as he loves
to meet the joyous welcome of his little ones upon his return from
his day’s labour, pleasant as it is for him to enjoy their childish
prattle, while they are seated together around the evening fire, yet,
having just returned, exhausted by a day of toil, while they climb
his knee, and chat over the little adventures of the day, they are
more to him as playthings, than as beings the training of whose minds
and habits for after life is entrusted to him. This, during the six
days of labour, devolves, almost exclusively, upon the mother, or, as
is too often the case, it is utterly neglected, because it requires
the most incessant and laborious exertions of both father and mother
to enable them to obtain a subsistence for themselves and their
offspring; and were it not for the weekly return of Sabbath-rest, and
its opportunities for improvement, they would grow up untrained, as the
wild ass’s colt. But the Sabbath places the Christian father refreshed
and vigorous in the midst of his family, his mind enlightened and
enriched by its instruction, and his feelings soothed by its devotional
exercises; thus fitting him to impart instruction, in a manner at once
calculated to reach the understandings and win the hearts of his little
ones.
[Illustration:
See page 95]
What a delightful scene of tranquil enjoyment is to be met with in the
family of the labourer where the Sabbath is properly appreciated
and actively improved! Has the reader ever spent a Lord’s day in such
a family? has he seen the children, awaking from the light slumbers of
the morning, glance round on the more than usual order, cleanliness and
quiet of the humble apartment, and then ask, Mother, what day is this?
and heard the reply, This is the Sabbath, the best of all days, the day
which God has blessed! Has he seen their father dandling the baby, till
their mother should finish dressing the elder children, and then, when
all were ready, heard the little circle join in the sweet morning hymn,
and seen them kneel together, while their father offered up a simple,
but heart-felt thanksgiving for life, health, and reason preserved,
through the toils of another week; and for the privilege of being
again all permitted to enjoy, in each other’s society, the blessed
light of the first day of the week; that morning-light which brings
to mind an empty grave, and a risen Saviour; those peaceful hours
which, undisturbed by the labour, hurry, and anxieties of the week,
they can devote to the advancement of that spiritual life in their
souls, which shall outlive the destruction of death itself? Has he
heard the words of prayer, the questions of the father, and the replies
of the children; and has he not felt assured that the mind-awakening
influences of such subjects of thought, and such exercises, would be
seen in the after years of these children?
Or, has he, on their return from the meeting-place of Christians,
witnessed their afternoon and evening employments? Has he seen the
eager and intelligent expression of those young faces, as the beautiful
story of Joseph and his brethren was read aloud to them; or that of
Daniel cast into the lions’ den; or how the servants of the living God
walked unhurt in the midst of the fire, whilst its flame slew those
men who cast them in; or the narrative of the wandering prodigal,
wretched and despised in a foreign land, whilst the meanest of his
father’s servants were living in abundance and comfort? Has he heard
their voices, each low but earnest; and then listened to the reading of
the Word of God? heard the reciting by turn, some beautiful hymns, or
reading some interesting chapter, or engaged in conversation familiar
and pleasant, though serious and instructive; children asking questions
of parents, and parents of children, concerning what they have been
hearing and reading during the day? And is not he who has been the
spectator of all this, convinced, that such a day is to the labourer
and his children, an inheritance of surpassing value; that it is
weekly adding a fresh impulse to their progress in improvement, and
preparing them to take advantage of whatever opportunities the week may
afford? Will not the Sabbaths of their childhood leave an impression
upon their future years, which will never be effaced; an impress of
superiority in intelligence and morality, and a consequent superiority
in circumstances?
One important advantage which is connected with the observance of the
Lord’s day, among the labouring population, is the influence which
it has in elevating the mind, character and condition of the female
portion of the community. Where Christianity and its weekly rest are
unknown, the condition of woman is abject in the extreme; but the
religion of Jesus raises her from her degraded situation, by calling
her forward to engage in the exercises, share the instructions, and
receive the influences of its Sabbath. The Lord’s day calls her
thinking powers into action, gives her a mind and conscience of her
own, cultivates her intellectual and moral nature, and gives her to man
a helpmate indeed, fitted to become, not merely his slave or his toy,
but the companion of his labours and his studies, his devoted friend,
and his faithful and judicious adviser; not merely the mother and nurse
of his children, but their intelligent instructor and guide--his most
efficient assistant in their intellectual and moral training. And if
we consider the influence which the training that man receives in his
early years has upon his character in after life--that, for the most
part, in the families of working men, infancy and childhood are spent
in the society of the mother, and therefore the impressions by which
the character is, in a great measure, formed, are made by her, we shall
feel convinced that the cultivation of the female mind and character
must have an incalculable influence upon the condition of the labouring
population.
It were worth ascertaining, how many of those who have risen up from
among the labouring population to adorn and bless humanity by their
talents and their philanthropy, to enlighten and benefit society by
useful and important discoveries in art and science, or by patient
persevering labour to advance mankind in virtue and intelligence--how
many of these had their minds awakened to activity, and their
principles formed, by the instructions which hard-working parents were
enabled to give them upon the Lord’s day, the only time they could
devote to such a purpose. And would it not shed a fearful light upon
this subject, could we possess ourselves of the history of the early
Sabbaths of those who have made themselves notorious by their crimes;
or of those, who, having sunk themselves deep in moral pollution, have
destroyed themselves, degraded humanity, and cursed society by their
vices? Would not such records give startling evidence of the ruinous
effects resulting from the abuse of the weekly rest, and clearly
demonstrate the truth of what has been already advanced, that, were
the Sabbath abolished, or given to working men as a day of mere bodily
refreshment and recreation, and not as a religious institution, they
would soon be reduced to a condition worse than that of the untaught
savage?
Yes; man is equally liable to degenerate as he is capable of
improvement--more so, for he must be aroused, urged forward, forced on
almost against his will: to take the downward path of degeneracy, he
needs only to be left unmolested to choose his own way.
Are there those who deny this--who look upon man as not a fallen and
depraved being, shorn of the glory of his primeval excellency, ever
liable to sink lower and degenerate farther, unless influences from
without reach him--but as a being who has raised himself by the unaided
exercise of the powers of his own mind, from a condition little above
that of the brute creation, to his present state? I ask them but to
survey the page of human history, to become convinced of the absurdity
of such an idea. Can they point to the records of any tribe of the
human family which, from a condition of rude barbarism, and shut out
from all intercourse with civilized nations, has ever raised itself
above such a state?[3] They cannot--it has uniformly been the entrance
of the missionary, the trader, the emigrant, from more enlightened and
civilized nations, which has changed the condition of such a people.
[3] Such as desire further information on this important point, may
obtain it, at a very small expense of time and labour, by consulting
Dr. Doig’s “_Three Letters on the Savage State_,” addressed to Lord
Kames.--ED.
Had it been as they say, had man been formed the being they represent
him, and had the voice of God never reached his ear, had no celestial
visitant ever arrived upon our planet, man had never risen one step
above his first condition. If, then, as the history of mankind
abundantly proves, religion founded upon revelation be the only
really efficient means by which man can be raised to that state of
perfection he is capable of attaining; if, as we trace the progress of
Christianity among the nations, we find an advancement in civilization
following in her footsteps, and an amelioration of the social condition
of the people marking her progress, may we not reasonably attribute to
her seventh-day rest all the temporal blessings which, as she advances,
she is conferring upon the labouring population? And would not the
abolition of this institution, or the appropriation of Sabbath hours to
other than their proper use, be effectively to exclude those who obtain
their daily bread by the labour of their hands, from a participation
in the benefits which the knowledge of revelation confers upon man? No
more effectual step could be taken towards the demoralization, I had
almost said the brutalization, of the labouring population, than that
of inducing them to look upon it as a mere human holiday, which may be
occupied in any way fancy may dictate. Barbarous and degrading sports,
bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and such like; drunkenness, revelry,
and riot, would, with fearful rapidity, take the place of the solemn
assembly.
He who would seek to enslave and degrade the working man, could
not more effectually accomplish his object, than by persuading him
to regard and occupy the Sabbath as a day which he might spend
in amusement. Were the Lord’s day blotted out, or spent in mere
recreation--were the sons of toil no more to enjoy or avail themselves
of its rich provisions for their instruction and elevation--not only
should we soon see religion disregarded, that blessed light of heaven,
that sunshine of the sky which is chasing the shadows of ignorance, and
dissipating the mists of error and superstition; which is awakening
man to spiritual life, arousing to healthful activity in him all the
springs of moral feeling and intellectual energy; not only would this
morning beam be shut out from the sons of toil, those glad tidings
which Jesus so frequently preached to the poor in the weekly assembly
upon the Sabbath-day, be put without the reach of working men--but we
should soon see them deprived of those civil institutions which secure
to them personal liberty, and degraded to a condition of mere vassalage.
Let no one be startled when I affirm that it is the Sabbath which has
bestowed upon the labouring population the civil privileges they enjoy,
and raised them to the position they occupy; that it is the Lord’s day
which is the great, the everlasting bulwark of human freedom. It is
that moral force which intelligence and virtue bestow upon a people,
which unlooses effectually the iron grasp of the oppressor; which makes
their voice heard clearly and distinctly in the legislation of their
country, and blots pernicious, partial, and unjust laws out of the
statute-book; and it is, as we have already seen, the knowledge of God
obtained from revelation, which awakens man’s dormant powers of mind,
which leads him onward and upward in virtue and intelligence.
Deprive religion of its weekly rest, and by what means is it to gain
access to the ears and to the understandings of working men, and
their children? When is it to pour its light into their minds, and
the influence of devotion into their hearts? When shall the labourer
study the book of God, or working men gather together to hear, not the
teachings of erring man, but, with the Scriptures of truth in their
hands, to listen to the voice of that infallible Wisdom which was
with God when he laid the foundations of the earth? Shall it be after
a day of laborious exertion has rendered them unfit, by exhaustion,
for the close application of their minds to any serious study? Alas
for the advancement of the labouring portion of the community in
intelligence and morality! Alas for the refinement of manners, and the
cultivation of mind among them, if it is to be left to such seasons!
So absolutely essential to the well-being of man does the Sabbath
appear, whether viewed in relation to his eternal or his temporal
interests, that, could we suppose it possible for man, destitute of
the weekly rest, to become conscious of the wants of his own nature,
we should conclude that he would have instituted, of his own accord,
a Sabbath for himself. Those who, either for worldly gain or the
pursuit of pleasure, profane the sacred hours of Sabbath rest, are not
only despising one of the most important institutions of religion, but
they are doing what in them lies to undermine one of the most enduring
defences of human liberty.
He who would take from the working man his Sabbath, would take with
it the mind-awakening influence of religion; would keep the gate of
knowledge, and forbid his entrance; would throw an impassable barrier
in the way of his progress in civilization, and leave him the slave of
the despot, the tool of the crafty politician, and the follower of the
superstitious zealot, or the religious impostor.
Let those, then, who would seek to transmit to their children that
liberty and those rights for which their fathers have struggled and
bled, rear them amidst Sabbath influences, fill their minds with those
subjects for the study of which the weekly rest was instituted, and
accustom them to Sabbath exercises; and, most assuredly, they will rise
above the oppression of the tyrant, see through the devices of the
crafty, the subtlety of the sophist, and the deceit of the impostor.
All the efforts which have ever been made by the rude arm of physical
force, to rescue mankind from oppression, have been utterly futile; and
if any one will survey the state of the nations at the present moment,
he will find the liberty and the privileges enjoyed by the people, to
be exactly proportioned to the extent to which general intelligence
and the knowledge of the word of God are diffused among them. What has
the sword ever effected for the redemption of mankind from tyranny? It
may have wrenched power from the hand of one party, but it has only
been to give it into the hand of another equally liable to abuse it.
Has it been torn from the hand of a lawless and merciless despot? It
has been given into the hands of an insolent and brutal soldiery, or
a superstitious mob, who soon trampled under foot that liberty which
had been purchased for them with the blood of their brethren. Every
revolution which has been effected by violence, affords proof of this.
It has been the blood of the martyr--the patient endurance and unshaken
fortitude of him who would rather yield up liberty and life itself,
than deny the truth--the peaceable, but persevering and indefatigable
missionary, whose exertions have been devoted to the spread of the
knowledge of God among men, who, by introducing religion and its
Sabbath, and bringing man into intercourse with his God, the great
Lord of all, to whom all are equally responsible, the governed and the
governor, the subject and the prince, the servant and his master; and
thus, by awakening in men a sense of their personal responsibility,
has aroused their minds to activity. It is the knowledge of their
responsibility--of the great truth that all must stand before the
judgment-seat of Christ, to give, each one, an account of the deeds
done in the body--which causes men to think and act for themselves,
and thus raises them above the subtlety and power of selfishness and
ambition.
Although the Sabbath comes laden with blessings for the sons of men,
yet let it never be forgotten, that he only whom the truth has made
free, he who has left the service of sin, to become the Lord’s free
man, doing the will of God from the heart, can fully appreciate or
enjoy, not only its spiritual, but even its merely temporal blessings.
He who has never tasted that God is good, who has never in joyful
confidence committed the salvation of his soul into the hand of Jesus,
will but abuse its benefits, neglect its duties, and despise its
privileges.
How often does Monday morning give painful evidence of the total
uselessness of the weekly rest to those who look upon it merely as a
day of rest from toil, and a season for recreation! Even the rest they
talk of is thrown away, and they are jaded and exhausted by folly and
intemperance. Monday finds them scarce fit for the labour of the day:
instead of the animal system being refreshed and health improved, the
body is abused, and disease engendered; while among those who, though
knowing nothing of the living power of religion, yet influenced by
the customs and opinions of society around them, show no small regard
for the Sabbath, how often are its blessed influences almost entirely
buried underneath the rubbish of mere ceremonial sanctity! No wonder,
if childhood, sternly commanded to assume the serious gravity of age,
through the long, weary, empty hours of an inactive Sabbath, should
imbibe a deep-rooted dislike to religion and its Sabbath. No wonder,
if, in families where it is thus observed, the minds of the young
should become disaffected to that religion, of which such an empty,
gloomy institution is viewed as a part; that, having received such a
false idea of religion, they should plunge headlong into the pleasures,
follies, and vices of the world, thinking that such lifeless and gloomy
exercises will better suit the weakness and infirmity of age, than
the fresh and buoyant activity of youth; and thus reap the results
of an irregular and intemperate life, in a shattered constitution and
depraved character. No wonder, if youth, coming forth from the bosom of
such families, should be easily deluded by sophistry, and, caught in
the snares of scepticism, should step into the ranks of unbelievers, or
sink to the fate of the criminal and the vicious.
He who blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, never meant that
that day, whose first morning beam fell upon the joyful activity of
a new and perfect creation; whose dawning light saw the _Son of man_
arise triumphant over death and the grave, should be spent in listless,
motionless silence, or in soulless, meaningless ceremony. No; holy
its hours indeed are, sanctified, set apart; not however to solemn,
gloomy, lifeless inactivity; but hallowed to rest and refreshment,
sacred to joy, set apart to active, cheerful, and strenuous exertion
for the improvement of ourselves and others in holiness, virtue, and
intelligence. Doubtless, thousands who have never felt the power of
the truth in an awakened conscience and a renewed heart, are reaping
many and important benefits from the Lord’s-day, in the more general
diffusion of knowledge, and the advancement of civilization, besides
the comfortable rest and refreshment it affords their bodies. But
they can only to a limited extent enjoy the beneficial influence of
the weekly rest, whether viewed as increasing their enjoyment in this
present life, or as fitting them for happiness hereafter.
While, then, considering it of the utmost importance, that this day
should be preserved from the encroachments of labour and amusement,
that working men should be protected by the law of their country in the
observance of it, and regarding it as of paramount importance, that
it be preserved in its unimpaired sanctity as the birthright of every
Briton,--I would earnestly, solemnly, and affectionately, urge upon
the attention of those who, seeking the improvement of the temporal
condition of the labouring population of our country, and aware of the
powerful influence which a proper observance of the Sabbath would have
in effecting their elevation, are endeavouring to call the attention
of the legislature to the subject,--that, here, legal enactments can
do but little; they may put down, to some extent, the more public and
glaring forms of Sabbath profanation, but this will only increase the
amount of secret desecration. Those who have no heart for the proper
observance of this day, may be prevented from spending it in certain
kinds of labour or amusement, railway travelling, pleasure excursions,
and such like: by being prevented from enjoying themselves in such
pursuits, however, they will be driven into the secret haunts of
dissipation and vice; and thus, although it is no doubt well, that,
where wickedness cannot be eradicated, it should be made ashamed to
show its head, yet comparatively little good can be effected by the
civil ruler, in promoting the cause of Sabbath observance. I would
entreat them to bear in mind, that it is only the truths of the Gospel
imparting spiritual life, implanting moral principle, bringing the will
of man into subjection to the will of his Creator, and awakening the
intellect, that can enable man to reap that full harvest of temporal
good from the weekly rest which it is so well fitted to afford him.
Let, then, all who would see man redeemed from ignorance and slavery,
vice and degradation--all who would see the working man refined in
manners and elevated in character and condition, exert their utmost
energy in the diffusion of knowledge, in the education of youth, but
above all, in calling the attention of men to Divine truth, to the
glad tidings of salvation; and for this purpose let them rejoice in,
and employ the Sabbath as connected with religion, as affording time
for spreading abroad the knowledge of God: this is the lever which is
to lift man from the degradation of the fall, and make him fit to be
the inhabitant of a new earth, wherein all the evils which at present
surround him shall be unknown.
What varied agencies is not the Sabbath calling into operation, to
press forward and give fresh impulse to the onward movement! Not
only is the stolid mind of the untaught workman aroused, impelling
motive and untiring energy imparted, to carry him on in the upward
path of self-improvement; but the sympathies of his nature are also
awakened, and, looking on the moral and intellectual degradation, and
the physical wretchedness around him, his heart is yearning over his
fellow-men, and the weekly rest affording him time, he is stretching
out the hand of a brother to those who are sunk in ignorance and
vice, he is pointing the upward path, and stimulating to the upward
movement. See that young man, whose daily earnings, perchance, are
needful, not merely for his own support, but it may be, for the support
of aged parents, or of young and helpless brothers and sisters; the
circumstances of whose early years had prevented his enjoying more
than the limited advantages of a common grammar-school education,
or, perhaps, not even allowed of his receiving so much as a common
school education, but whose knowledge has been picked up in Sabbath
classes, or at the fireside of hard-working parents, whose straitened
circumstances required that even in his boyhood he should strain every
nerve to assist them in supplying, by his labour, the wants of a young
and numerous family: he is not only walking steadfastly and firmly
himself in the path of improvement, but taking the lead, and urging on
his fellow-men, devoting his little hour of Sabbath rest, and Sabbath
leisure, not to mere repose, or sensual indulgence, but gathering
his fellow-men around him that he may reason with them out of the
Scriptures, or calling together, for instruction, a class of ragged,
untrained children, or wending his way to yonder wretched garret, or
that damp cellar, where want, disease, and vice have taken up their
abode together, that he may ascertain why that squalid child was absent
from the Sabbath-school class, and drop a word of encouragement to the
boy, or address a word of warning and entreaty to the parents.
Who has not felt convinced, on viewing scenes like these, agencies like
these called into operation, that it is the weekly rest in the hands
of living, active religion, which is destined to reach the very lowest
depths of society, to lift humanity from the degrading pollutions of
vice, and from the servile dependence and helplessness of ignorance;
and that to take from the children of toil the Lord’s-day, were to
take from them at once the means of self-improvement, and also the
opportunity of doing anything towards the improvement of others?
Let those, then, who seek the elevation and refinement of the labouring
population, do all that in them lies to spread among them the knowledge
of true religion and the observance of the Sabbath. Science may
advance, art and philosophy instruct those who have means and leisure
for their study; but of what avail would they ever become to labouring
men, did not Religion by her Sabbath open up the way for them? Yes;
Christianity is the pioneer, and they follow in its footsteps. Besides,
what is man, with his moral nature unimproved? His intellect may be
powerful and highly cultivated; he may be learned in art and science,
acquainted with all the properties of matter, and with every system
of philosophy, ancient and modern; he may be capable of bringing
creation, animate and inanimate, into subserviency to his pleasure and
convenience; the lightnings of heaven may, at his bidding, fly with
his message; and the hidden treasures of the earth may come forth to
the light of day: at the command of art and science, starting into
motion, he may be conveyed almost with the rapidity of thought, to his
desired destination; fire, water, and air, may accomplish his labour
for him; but, if his religious feelings are dormant or misdirected,
or if his moral nature is depraved, he is but the more capacitated to
spread destruction and misery around him; to be miserable in himself,
and a curse and a scourge to mankind. He can use, with more ability,
the subtlety and the arts of the impostor; he can, with more dexterity,
forge or use weapons of war, or set armies in battle array; or he may
be a more able and dangerous leader in riot and insurrection; a more
dexterous highwayman, robber, or assassin; but, without the cultivation
of his moral nature by religion, he is neither fitted to receive
happiness himself, nor impart it to others.
Religion not only awakens and cultivates man’s intellect, it also
subdues and governs his animal propensities, exalts and refines
his moral feelings, and by doing so, redeems him from much present
suffering, and opens to him inexhaustible treasures of enjoyment in
himself and others, impelling him to exert all the energies of his
nature, not in seeking merely his own, but in securing the well-being
of his fellow-men, making him more willing to impart than to exact,
more yielding than commanding, more ready to bear with, than to claim
forbearance--in a word, writing upon his heart, in living characters,
the truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and thus
putting an end to all strife, emulation, broils, and discord, and war
in every form, with all its attendant miseries.
Yes; let those who long for that blissful period when men shall be
united in one universal brotherhood; when peace shall make her dwelling
among them, and good-will fill every heart; when the reward of the
husbandman’s toil--the yellow fields of waving grain--shall no more be
trampled beneath the hoof of the war-horse, nor his hard-won earnings
wrung from his hand, to keep in repair the machinery of war--when men
shall no more study the art of destroying each other, but shall beat
their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks;
let those who long for, and labour to introduce this happy era, see in
the Sabbath the oil which is to still the waves of human strife--in
its memorials, its influences, its exercises, the links of that chain
of love, which is yet to bind heart to heart, from one end of the earth
to the other, and encircle the whole with an unbroken and everlasting
bond of union.
When men meet together on the first day of the week, to break bread, to
surround the table of their Lord, to pass from hand to hand the cup of
blessing, to hear the words and study the character of Him who, when
he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not,
but committed himself to Him who judgeth righteously; when they, as the
children of that God who is by his love manifested in the gift of his
well-beloved Son, subduing the enmity of his enemies and reconciling
them to himself, meet thus together on the first day of the week, not
to hear the voice of a human orator, nor to attend to the words of a
fallible instructor, but to gather around the Scriptures of truth, the
word of the living and true God, to learn his will, that with willing
and ready feet, they may run in the way of his commandments; when they
study his character, as he there reveals himself, that their moral
nature may become assimilated to his, that they may be like their
Father in heaven, who maketh his sun to shine upon the evil and the
good; what must be the result? Who will hesitate to say, were working
men all to meet weekly, thus to keep the Lord’s-day as appointed by
Himself, that soon the oppressor would cease out of the land; that
intemperance, ignorance, vice of all kinds, with all the poverty,
disease, and wretchedness, inseparably connected with them, would be
for ever banished; and peace, descending from the skies, whither sin
had caused her to take her flight, again dwell with redeemed man?
And ever as we approach nearer and nearer to such a use of the weekly
rest; and ever as the circle widens of those who feel it not their
duty only, but their dearest, choicest privilege, thus to spend and
enjoy this day--do we approach more nearly to the long-predicted age of
millennial glory, to the dawn of the great Sabbath of the world, that
Sabbath of rest from sin and suffering, strife and oppression, when the
Lord himself shall judge the nations in righteousness, when the lofty
looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be
brought low, and the Lord alone be exalted.
The Lord’s-day can never be trifled with but at our peril. Like every
appointment of our benevolent Creator, it was instituted for the
benefit of his creatures, wisely adapted to fulfil its purpose; and he
who sells its privileges for gain, or barters them for pleasure, makes
a poor bargain indeed. Selfishness--narrow, ungenerous, short-sighted
selfishness--generally outwits itself; and this is especially the case
with employers, who, regardless of the comfort, health, or morality of
the employed, engage them in labour on this day, and thereby deprive
them of its benefits. The interests of employers are inseparably
connected with the well-being of the employed. The labour of a healthy,
steady, honest, intelligent workman, is of double value to that of him
who cannot be depended upon, whose moral principles are unsound, or his
habits irregular; whose mind is uncultivated, or his body debilitated
by disease. And those who engage men in labour or business upon the
first day of the week, may blame themselves, if, in a few years, they
find it difficult to have their work well performed, and discover that
their property is far from being secure.
The Sabbath has, with beautiful propriety, been called, “the poor man’s
day;” and it seems, indeed, peculiarly adapted to confer important
advantages upon him: not one of these, however, is obtained at the
expense of the employers. Its blessings are suited to all classes,
but the working-classes more especially require its provisions for
their happiness. If the servant, after a week of labour, enjoys a day
of rest, and appears in the meeting of the disciples of Jesus, clean,
comfortably dressed, and respectable as his master, it is, that, fresh
and vigorous, he may with hearty good-will enter upon the labours
of another week. A feeling of self-respect, and a sense of moral
obligation, raise him above eye-service, or anything like slight,
sluggish, or improper performance of labour; a feeling which, though it
cannot stoop to cringing servility, would sooner brook disrespect than
show it to another, whether employer or fellow-servant; and a sense of
moral obligation, which makes him faithful in whatever he is entrusted
with, enables him to understand and claim his own rights, and induces
him without reserve, to give to all others their due.
The Sabbath interferes with the interests of none but those who live by
the ignorance, superstition, vice, and degradation of mankind; those
who have their wealth from Babylon the great, who traffic in “slaves
and souls of men.”
Let all, then, of every class and station, examine this subject; the
more it is viewed in the light of truth, the more its importance will
appear. He who is desirous of the well-being of his fellow-men, ought
not, and cannot consistently, pass it lightly by; and even he whose
contracted mind looks only at his personal interest, may not safely
slight it.
[Illustration: FINIS]
THE
Christian Union and Religious Memorial.
EDITED BY
REV. ROBERT BAIRD, D. D.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY,
AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.
THIS magazine is devoted to the cause of Christian Union among all
Evangelical denominations, and its great object will be to make the
Church below more like the Church above, by the infusion of that spirit
of Christian love and brotherly kindness which should distinguish all
the members of _Christ’s_ body, whatever name they bear on earth. It
will contain essays on Christian union and collateral subjects, by some
of the best writers at home and abroad.
Another essential feature of our work will be a monthly memorial
or resumé of the progress of religion in all lands. We shall pay
particular attention to missionary operations throughout the world, and
keep our readers acquainted with the progress of religion in foreign
countries by the various missionaries there employed.
Our foreign correspondence will be extensive and various, and our
readers will thus be kept informed of the changes and progress of
events in Europe.
Although we shall keep clear of discussions on doctrinal points, we
shall feel at full liberty to animadvert freely on whatever we may
deem errors in practice, wherever they may exist. At the same time, we
shall advocate, with all our powers, every true Christian reform which
shall tend to improve and elevate mankind.
Our work has already received the highest commendations, and our
arrangements will enable us to make considerable improvements the
coming year.
SAMUEL HUESTON,
139 Nassau street.
[Illustration]
RECOMMENDATIONS.
The _Christian Union and Religious Memorial_, edited by DR. BAIRD,
is a rich repository of valuable matter, statistical and historical,
bearing upon the interests of religion in all parts of the world.--_N.
Y. Observer._
It breathes the spirit of Christianity, and contains notices of the
progress of Christ’s kingdom among the different branches of the
Church. Conducted by DR. BAIRD and his able associates, it cannot fail
to do great good. Its view of foreign Churches is peculiarly valuable,
from the Dr.’s long residence in Europe.--_Lutheran Observer._
Under the supervision of the Rev. DR. BAIRD, the Christian Union is
becoming a highly valuable publication, and will, no doubt, obtain an
extensive circulation. The principles of Christian Union, as advocated
by the editor, are such as all evangelical denominations may unite in,
without sacrificing any peculiar principles of their own.--_Christian
Secretary._
It is a precious monthly, published by S. Hueston, 139 Nassau street,
New York.--_Christian Intelligencer._
We deem the Union an important auxiliary in spreading a knowledge of
the condition and prospects of religious denominations--a knowledge,
which, we are sorry to say, is not as extensively cultivated as it
should be, either by the ministry or the private members of the
church.--_S. W. Baptist Chronicle._
Every bishop, minister, elder, deacon and class-leader should have
this valuable monthly. Christians of every name must unite against the
works of darkness, banish _for ever_ their little sectarianisms, or
the world cannot be saved.--_Golden Rule._
The statistical information furnished by this publication, and
its notices in a comprehensive view and permanent form, of the
manifestations and progress of the Church of Christ in all lands,
render it valuable and worthy of patronage.--_Southern Christian
Advocate._
The missionary and statistical information upon its pages must render
it of great value as a book of reference, while its essays and
discussions combine much to interest and instruct the serious mind.
Its catholic spirit entitles it to the confidence of Christians of
every name.--REV. B. T. WELCH, _Pastor of the Pearl St. Baptist
church, Albany, N. Y._
Each number of the work contains 64 closely printed royal octavo pages,
and will form a yearly volume of 768 pages.
HEAVEN’S ANTIDOTE
TO THE
CURSE OF LABOR:
_Or the Temporal Advantages of the Sabbath to the Working Classes_.
BY JOHN ALLAN QUINTON.
With a Prefatory Notice by Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D.
This beautiful Essay on the Sabbath, from the pen of a journeyman
printer, of Ipswich, England, received the first prize which was
offered by Mr. Henderson, of Glasgow, for essays on that subject by
working men. The fact that it was selected for the first prize, out
of 1045 compositions, must be sufficient proof of its merit. The
American edition contains a very interesting preface by Dr. Tyng. It is
illustrated, neatly bound in cloth, and is sold for 37¹⁄₂ cents.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
“It is a manly, direct, and most conclusive presentation of the
temporal benefits of observing the Sabbath, which we should suppose no
one could peruse without a definite impression. It should especially
reach laboring men--its strong sense and clear logic are finely suited
to make an impression upon the popular mind.”--_New York Evangelist._
“The work should be scattered broadcast over the land.”--_Protestant
Churchman._
“The treatise considers the advantages of the Sabbath under the heads
of Physical, Mercantile, Intellectual, Domestic, Moral, and Religious.
The author does not write theoretically, but from personal experience;
and no working man can read his essay without feeling that the Sabbath
is one of the greatest temporal blessings. We trust that the volume
will have a wide circulation among all classes in our own country; for
all need its salutary counsels. It is written in a very attractive
style, and neatly printed.”--_Independent._
“This is a strong, clear, and admirable essay on the Temporal
Advantages of the Sabbath, considered in relation to the working
classes.”--_Courier and Enquirer._
JUST PUBLISHED BY
S. HUESTON, 138 NASSAU-ST., NEW YORK.
DOWLING’S CONFERENCE HYMNS.
A NEW COLLECTION OF HYMNS,
DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR USE IN
Conference and Prayer Meetings,
AND FAMILY WORSHIP.
BY J. DOWLING, D.D.
THE design of the present compilation is, in the first place, to add
to the life and spirituality of the Conference and the Prayer Meeting;
and, secondly, to be an acceptable pocket companion to the Christian,
in the family or in the closet.
From most of the Conference hymn books which the editor has examined,
a large number of devotional pieces, cherished in the memory and
the hearts of the fathers and mothers in our American Zion, have
been excluded; probably because the poetry was not regarded as of a
sufficiently high order of excellence. The opinion of the present
editor is, that sacred songs, embodying scriptural sentiments and
genuine religious experience--when not objectionable on the score of
vulgarity or grammatical inaccuracy--should not be discarded because
they fail to stand the test of a rigid poetical censorship.
To mention a few of the favorite pieces omitted in some recent
collections, many Christians will at once recognize the following,
associated as some of them are with their sweetest seasons of
holy religious enjoyment:--“_Sweet land of rest, for thee I
sigh_”--“_Whither goest thou, pilgrim stranger_”--“_The Lord into his
garden comes_”--“_Farewell, dear friends, I must be gone_”--“_Amen,
amen, my soul replies_”--“_Come, my brethren, let us try_”--“_Vain,
delusive world, adieu_”--“_O come, my loving neighbors, will you go
to glory with me_”--“_Let thy kingdom, blessed Saviour_”--“_There
is a land of pleasure_”--“_O tell me no more of this world’s vain
store_”--“_To-day, if you will hear his voice_”--“_Beside the gospel
pool_”--“The Good Old Way,” commencing, “_Lift up your heads,
Immanuel’s friends_”--“The Harvest Home,” commencing, “_This is the
field, the world below_”--“The Bower of Prayer”--“The Saints’ Sweet
Home”--and Newton’s pious and expressive pieces--“The Beggar’s Prayer,”
commencing, “_Encouraged by thy word, of mercy to the poor_”--The
“Dying Thief,” commencing, “_Sovereign grace hath power alone_”--and,
“The Lord will provide,” commencing, “_Though troubles assail and
dangers affright_.”
One great motive in the present work was to restore, for the use of the
Editor’s own congregation and of such others as desire them, the above,
and a number of similar devotional and familiar “Sacred Songs,” omitted
in some recent Conference hymn books.
▶ Copies for examination furnished gratis to post-paid
applications--_unbound_ copies sent by mail.
Published by EDWARD H. FLETCHER,
_141 Nassau Street, N. Y._
CHEAP CASH BOOK STORE.
EDWARD H. FLETCHER,
No. 141 Nassau street,
NEW YORK.
Has constantly on hand, at wholesale and retail, a general assortment
of _Theological, Classical, Miscellaneous, School and Blank Books and
Stationery_.
A complete Depository of SABBATH SCHOOL BOOKS.
Booksellers, Traders, Teachers, Schools, Academies and Individuals
supplied, wholesale and retail, on the most liberal terms.
Religious books of every variety which are to be found in the market,
may be obtained here at the _very lowest prices_.
SECOND-HAND BOOKS.
Valuable Standard Theological and other Books from private libraries
will be sold at a fraction of the price of new.
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.
A new and beautiful article, with a silver border, samples of which
will be sent gratis to post-paid applications.
Published by
EDWARD H. FLETCHER,
_No. 141 Nassau street_.
NOTICE.
THE copartnership heretofore existing between the Subscribers, under
the firm of LEWIS COLBY & COMPANY, is this day dissolved by mutual
consent. All accounts will be settled by Lewis Colby, who is authorized
to use the name of the firm in liquidation.
LEWIS COLBY.
EDWARD H. FLETCHER.
_New York, September 5th, 1848._
CIRCULAR.
The subscriber respectfully announces to his friends and the public
that he has opened a store at 141 Nassau street, where he will continue
the same line of the BOOKSELLING and PUBLISHING business which has been
pursued by the late firm.
Having been _regularly bred_ to the business, added to which is his
experience in the late concern _from its commencement_, he feels
confident that he can offer to his patrons advantageous terms.
The primary object of this establishment will be the publication and
sale of Religious Books.
A large assortment of Sabbath School Books will be kept, and to this
department much attention will be paid. If Sabbath Schools, wishing to
replenish their libraries, or to purchase new ones, will forward their
funds, and a list of such books as they already have, their orders will
receive prompt attention, and the selection will be carefully made.
Also will be kept, School and Blank Books, and Stationery of every
variety--Sermon Paper, Marriage Certificates, &c.
FOREIGN BOOKS imported, for a small commission.
▶ A liberal discount will be made to Booksellers, Ministers, and
Teachers.
EDWARD H. FLETCHER.
_New York, September 23d, 1848._
THE
BAPTIST SABBATH SCHOOL
HYMN BOOK.
A NEW edition of this work, which was compiled by Rev. JOSEPH A. WARNE,
has just been issued. It contains five hundred hymns, in fair type, and
is well printed.
_Extract from the Preface._
“The denomination for whose use this volume is prepared, is one of
the most numerous in the land; and one which therefore may claim, as
justly as any other, to have a volume of hymns for use in its Sabbath
Schools, all of which shall be such as may be employed without doing
violence to its denominational peculiarities, or covertly undermining
its foundations; and if there is such a collection in existence, the
compiler has not been so fortunate as to meet with it.
“Sabbath Schools have, of late years (and long may it continue to be
so), been favored with the special grace of the Spirit of God; and
great numbers, from their classes, have been led to profess publicly
their attachment to the Redeemer. It need not be said that a volume
of Hymns, compiled on the principle of merging all denominational
peculiarities, _could not admit_ into its pages hymns on the subject
of baptism. But need Baptist schools be thus restricted? Surely not:
and though our books of hymns used in public worship contain those
adapted to this ordinance, they are yet generally both quite limited
in their number and quite deficient in allusion to the early age
of those candidates who are from the Sabbath School, and who often
constitute a majority of the whole number. This volume contains
several hymns on this subject, not found in books in common use in
this vicinity, in New England, or, it is believed, in the South or
West generally.”
▶ Copies for examination furnished gratis to post-paid applications.
EDWARD H. FLETCHER,
Publisher,
141 NASSAU ST., N. YORK.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Page 129: “age of milennial glory” changed to “age of millennial glory”Project Gutenberg
The pearl of days : $b or, The advantages of the Sabbath to the working classes
Farquhar, Barbara H. (Barbara Henry)
Chimera60
Graduate