The National Register.
London, England, 1816-03-25 00:00:00

4sii
.4,411;

No. 429.—V01.. IX.

THE OBSERVATION OF 7'IIE SABBATH.

ABSTINENCE from secular employment is the first
part of the duty enjoined on the Sabhath,—attention to 1
the exercises of religion, and to the moral cultivation of the I
1
mind is the second ; obedience to the former is necessary
to the due performance of the latter, and when they go
hand in hand, this sacred institution fulfils all i:e objects.
Salutary refiees:enent from bodily toil, and rapid progress
in mental improvement would thus become the beneficial I
fruits of the same pelitie and benevoicet armngeme nt. I
The allotment of so large a Renton us' our time as the
seventh to rest, and the app: iutment of regular iiistrue- ;
ton at proper distances, to expound to the assembled
people their duties, to open the ;r understandings,
or to lead their de oeions, leave nothing either to be
devised or desired fe ameliorating the physical condi-
tions of the labouring classes, or exalting their ietelleee.
tual capacities. Accordingly, where tile observation of
the Sabbath approximates most to the injunctions of
Scripture, and the practice of' the first christians, the
people are always found the most regular in their habits, •
the most improved in their unierstanaings, and the most •
prudent in their conduct. An appeal on this subject
need only be made to the inhabitants of Scotland, of
Switzerland, and Holland. A Beale exhibiting the
gradations of intelligence, of moral cultivation, and of
religious attainment, discoverable among the lower orders
of different countries, might almost, with tolerable accu-
racy, be drawn up from an attentive observation of the
mode in which they respectively fulfil the duties of
Sunday. The eeperiment etiay be tried very successfully,
we are eeevinced, with respect to our own empire, the
nations of the continent, and the States of America. It
is almost unnecessary to add, that the rule cannot be ex-
pected to apply universally, excepting to the lower orders
of society. The upper classes who receive a liberal edu-
cation in their youth, and who have access to books or
other sources of knowledge during almost every day of
their lives, are not so dependent upon this institution;
but the labouring and less affluent orders, who have.
almost no leisure excepting on the Sahleith for acquiring
moral instruction, and no teachers but the clergy, if they
impiously contemn the provision made for their benefit
in this apppointment of their religion, or negligently fail
to take advantage of it, arc lively to remein in hope-
less ignorance, or to advance in unchecked depravity.
The breach of the Sabbath is with them not a solitary
crime. Its forgetfulness is with them not an omission of
duty, the effects of which can be soon repaired—the con-
sequences of which can be easily limited. Sabbath
breaking in their situation, is both a test of the commence-
ment of certain irreligious and criminal habits, and a
prognoetic of others; it filth iteliestes that they have
made advances into the regions of vice, and that they have
cut off the best founded hopes of their return. In short,
it is equivalent to the extinetien of the best guard of the
morals and religion of humble life,—it is a renunciation
of the antidote when the prim iples of action arc poiscued.
Accordingly, we find that those unworthy members of
society who have been led on from one degree of wicked-
nee! to another, till they have rendered themselves the
victims of criminal justice, lenient, in their confessions,
their contempt of the duties and employments of Sunday
as the first end moat heinous of tbrir o4i'enee.most Ail re-
ligieus obligation, all serious reflection, all moral amend-
ir.ent, all progress in piety and virtue ameng the lower
orders, are in this country identified with the punctual ob-
servance of the fourth conumuulment. When we see it,
therefore, neglected IT them, we may consider the in-
lcct as a sympton of general corruplion ; and may
infer
that those who abuse the rest which the law allows
them for strengthening their principles, for improving
their hearts, and acquiring the knowledge of the truths
of christianity, are not likely to secure any other less
favourable opportunities for eceuraplishing these great
purposes.
While we show the importance of attending to the
duties of the Sabbath, we do not mean to represent it as a
reason of unrelaxed seriousness, nor to reconintend its ob-
servances as a eystein of gloomy restraint. Nothing can
be snore varied titan the manner in which it has been
hallowed by different nations end in different ages; but
the true medium between licentious 'free-dem, and ex-
cessive striceiess, has, we believe, seldom been found.
To work on the seventh day, was with the Jews a capi-