So pleads the Rum-seller. His employment impoverishes the community, sends desolation into families, corrupts the morals of society, and hurls souls by thousands into a drunkard’s hell. Good men expostulate and entreat him to desist from such a wicked calling. But his reply is, that he has no other way of procuring a subsistence. Himself and his family depend upon the avails of his business for their bread. “And,” says he, with an air of confidence, as if no successful answer could be offered, “you know we must live.”
So pleads the Sabbath-breaker also. So earnest is he to accumulate property, that he will not respect the day of rest, to keep it holy. To cease from work, every seventh day, would be time lost. True, it is well for those to lay by their work who can afford to do so, but he is a poor man. He is just beginning in life, and must make the most of every opportunity. At all events, he must not be expected to keep the Sabbath holy, at all times, and under all circumstances. Occasions will arise, now and then, which render it important to work, Sabbath or no Sabbath. His harvest is not secured, and it may take injury if it is not gathered. The river is in good stage for rafting his lumber, and unless he seizes the opportunity, he may lose his chance altogether. An opportunity for making a very advantageous bargain opens on the Sabbath-day, and unless he embraces it promptly, he will not be so well off, by a number of dollars. Or it will not promote his business interests so well, to keep the Sabbath, as to keep the first day of the week; and so he disregards what the Law of God says, in order that he may do well for himself in the things of this world. “For,” says he, “you know I must live.”