But, happily, there are multitudes of working-men and youths who “call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable,” and who look forward to its return, in order to enjoy its spiritual as well as temporal advantages, with almost more anxiety than the husbandman, in anticipation of his gains, to the produce of a bountiful harvest. Without a Sabbath man would become puerile, sickly, and spiritually dead.
3. The Sabbath affords an opportunity to the labouring classes to attend to one of the greatest social duties—CLEANLINESS.
If there is any truth in the preceding remarks, the necessity for keeping the body properly cleansed, and changing every seventh day our habiliments, is so palpable that any arguments to enforce either the one or the other would almost appear unnecessary. Let us reflect, however, for a short time on this part of our subject. The injurious properties mixed up in the materials used by many trades are of a nature that require more than customary slight ablutions to prevent them from penetrating into the system. When the working-man returns to his home, at night, he is generally so exhausted that he finds scarcely the least disposition to undergo the process of “a thorough good wash;” and, in truth, although in no respect regardless of becoming decency, or ignorant of the benefits which it would confer on his health, he rests satisfied, for this once, with a slight rince of the hands and face, if he does not yield to the suggestion that it may be dispensed with altogether—but “this once” has sometimes no defined period for termination, at least not until the Sabbath morning arrives. In such cases, considering the short time allotted for social and other purposes, and the great depression of body and mind, the evil is more the result of uncontrollable causes than of wilful disinclination to perform a salutary duty. There is, however, no palliation for an habitual daily deviation from a procedure which is so highly beneficial to health and comfort. But, observe this toil-worn labourer on the Sabbath, and then there will be seen a man whose general appearance denotes that he is fully sensible of the advantages to be derived from cleanliness. It is, nevertheless, much to be regretted that any portion of the working classes should be so much harassed, when in employment, as to render it justifiable that a considerable portion of the early part of the Sabbath should be devoted to such necessary purposes, in order thoroughly to purify themselves for another week. Still, in a temporal view, how salutary is the seventh-day to these individuals! There are others for whom we can offer no such excuse—who seem to place no value whatever on propriety of appearance, and who display no outward respect for a proper observance of the Sabbath. The characters to whom we here allude may be seen standing at the corners of our streets, or strolling along the public pathways, covered with the dirt of their weekly occupation on the Sabbath morning. These men altogether reject the implantation of wholesome and necessary duties. The orderly and cleanly apartment of an industrious wife affords them no delight. They can witness, unmoved by shame, their neighbours dressed in their best attire, and many of them repairing, with cheerful hearts, to the house of God. These latter partake even now in part of the eternal rest of heaven!
“The Sabbath gathers to their common home.”
But it may be truly said of the former that they have not yet learnt “what is their chief business upon earth, and what is the reckoning that awaits them at the Divine Tribunal.”
Another class of working-men habituate themselves to a custom, in some trades more prevalent than in others, which is particularly censurable, and the impropriety of which deserves their most serious consideration. We refer to the practice of wearing an apron on the morning of the Sabbath. Surely the journeyman and the labourer behold the emblem of toil sufficiently during the six days without unnecessarily exposing it to public gaze on the Sabbath-day! It is a usage which is generally condemned. The worldling objects to the practice, because it does not harmonize with the fashions and gaieties of life; the moralist disapproves of it as not consonant with secular polity; but the Christian condemns it, from a pure and holy motive, as giving countenance to a breach of the law of God!
Still, notwithstanding, how delightful it is to observe the universal appearance of cleanliness on the Sabbath-day! In whatever house we enter, with few exceptions, we see on this special day every thing in comparative order; the inmates neatly attired, and the furniture cleansed and placed in its proper position. If we look at the exterior of our dwellings, we see a public evidence of the value of female industry. Without a stated Sabbath this could not be the case. One family would select a different day to another, while the sloven, not being forced by general example, would certainly pay far less attention to the discharge of these salutary duties. Indeed, it is very doubtful, under such altered circumstances, whether contagious or other diseases would not depopulate, to a most awful extent, the inhabitants of our crowded cities and towns. Thus we again see the importance of the Sabbath, as regards cleanliness, both to individuals and the nation. [27]
4. The Sabbath is essential for the preservation of SIGHT.
Much as we are impressed with the wonderful construction of the various parts of the human frame, in respect to their applicability to perform the respective functions assigned to them, the eye unquestionably creates the greatest interest, on account of its vast utility, the Divine ingenuity of its mechanism, and its liability to receive injury from the slightest accidental cause. The sight is one of the most invaluable blessings. The rich who are deprived of the faculty of vision, although they may possess extensive domains in a country whose vallies are as Eschol, whose forests are as Carmel, and whose hills are as Lebanon, cannot enjoy the magnificence and beauty of the scenery which surrounds them; but they can listen with almost unalloyed pleasure to the melodious notes of the warbling bird, or to the sweet and powerful intonations of musical sounds, and their wealth supplies every other earthly luxury and enjoyment, which tends materially to lessen the otherwise severe poignancy of their deprivation. How widely different is the melancholy situation of the labouring man, when his eyes are impaired by weakness or disease, or when he is totally deprived of sight! At once he is reduced to abject poverty, and becomes either the recipient of private charity, or the inmate of a workhouse. The fine landscape, much as he too may desire to gaze on it, is to him of trifling or no consideration—it will not satisfy the hungry stomach, nor shelter the body from the midnight blast! Such is the mournful effect of the loss of sight to the labouring classes. How important is it, then, that they should avail themselves of every established right to abstain from work, in order that this susceptible and essential faculty may receive additional strength?
We have previously shown that the prolonged hours of labour are incompatible with bodily health and mental vigour, and that the Sabbath is absolutely requisite to enable man to perform his accustomed employment—so it is with regard to the eye. The vision is affected by lengthened intensity of observation on any one particular object. It requires variety and relief, both of which the Creator has abundantly provided. The variegated flowers, the different shades of colour in minerals, the lofty trees and the little plants, the mountainous districts and the level plains, the brilliant and diversified hues that frequently decorate the heavens, all combine to testify that the eye cannot retain its perfection, if it is continually fixed on the same scene. The poor needlewomen, who sit the entire day, and sometimes do not cease from their tedious and spirit-subduing work until the light dawns on the following morning, afford a very striking exemplification of the great and unspeakable advantages of the Sabbath. What would be their sad condition—wretched and deplorable even as it is now—were it not that on the seventh day the eye was relieved of its monotonous and weary application? Alas! many of these pitiable females, even with this gracious opportunity to repair the injury inflicted by almost incessant toil, are often at an early age incapacitated, by defective vision, from pursuing their ill-paid occupations, and are then left destitute of their former scanty pittance to procure even sufficient sustenance to preserve life. Take, also, the men who work in pits and mines—where the glimmering lamp is the only source of light, and where all else around is chaotic darkness—how essential and benignant must be the Sabbath to them! Defective vision would completely prevent such men from pursuing their hazardous employment. Thus we once more prove the temporal advantages of the Sabbath to the labouring population.