Mails on the Sabbath
“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”
Ever since the postal system was established, an opposition has been made to its operations on the Sabbath. It is not for us to question the moral principle upon which these objections were based. The law for the observance of the Sabbath comes to us in language that cannot be mistaken and from a source not to be denied. But we question whether it applies to the wheels of a government, which, in the same order as that of the spheres, must move on for its maintenance.
The Rev. Thomas Scott (whose authority we annex, not feeling capable of giving a religious view ourselves) says, speaking upon the subject of the Sabbath,—
“‘Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work,’ was merely an allowance, and not an injunction; for the Lord forbade, by other precepts, all labor on some of these days, but they were assigned for the diligent performance of the business which relates to this present life, while the seventh was consecrated to the immediate service of God. The concerns of our souls must indeed be attended to, and God worshipped, every day, that our business may be regulated in subserviency to his will; but on the other days of the week ‘we shall do all our work,’ reserving none for the Sabbath, except WORKS OF CHARITY, PIETY, AND NECESSITY; for these alone consist with the holiness of that sacred day of rest, and are allowable, ‘because the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’ All works, therefore, which arise from avarice, distrust, luxury, vanity, and self-indulgence, are entirely prohibited.
“Buying and selling, paying wages, settling accounts, writing letters of business, reading books on ordinary subjects, trifling visits, journeys, excursions, dissipation, or conversation which serves only for amusement, cannot consist with ‘keeping a day holy to the Lord;’ and sloth is a carnal, not a spiritual, rest.
“Servants, and some others, may, however, be under a real necessity of doing things which are not necessary in themselves: though good management might often greatly lessen the evil,” &c.
Speaking of cattle, the learned author says, “The cattle must also be allowed to rest from the hard labor of husbandry, journeys, and all employments connected with trade or pleasure; though doubtless we may employ them too in works of necessity, piety, and charity; and thus they may properly be used for the gentle service of conveying those to places of public worship who could not otherwise attend or perform the duties to which they are called.”
It will be observed that, indirectly, the author sustains the argument we advanced above, that the wheels of a government, like the works of creation, must necessarily move on “without impediment,” and that any labor performed on the Sabbath connected with such operations comes under the head of “necessity.”
Governments are formed and their laws based upon those of nature: we imitate and follow them as being essential to sustaining and perpetuating their stability and usefulness.
Nor do we think our preachers are disposed to interfere with the mails running on the Sabbath; for they invariably are the most anxious on a Monday morning to receive their letters and newspapers, which, as we all know, are invariably assorted and distributed throughout the office on the Sabbath for an early delivery on Monday. We allude to this important clerical fact because in several instances they have threatened to report clerks for neglecting their duties on the Sabbath, simply because that labor was not devoted, as it would appear, for their especial benefit! This want of consistency on the part of a portion of the clergy seems more tinctured with hypocrisy than it is with Christianity.
Return J. Meigs, the postmaster-general under James Madison in 1815, in reply to certain petitions remonstrating against the mails running on the Sabbath, makes use of the following language (we give extracts only):—
“... The usage of transporting the mails on the Sabbath is coeval with the Constitution of the United States; and a prohibition of that usage will be first considered.” He then gives the various mail-routes on the principal roads, and says,—
“If the mail was not to move on Sunday on the routes enumerated, it would be delayed from three to four days in passing from one extreme of the route to the other. From Washington to St. Louis the mail would be delayed two days; from Washington to New Orleans the mail would be delayed three days; from New Orleans to Boston it would be delayed from four to five days; and, generally, the mails would, on an average, be retarded equal to one-seventh part of the time now employed, if the mails do not move on the Sabbath.
“On the smaller cross-roads or routes the transportation of the mail has been avoided on the Sabbath, except when necessary to prevent great delays and to preserve connections with different routes.”
In relation to opening the mails on the Sabbath, it may be noticed that the ninth section of the “act regulating the post-office establishment” makes it the duty of the postmaster to attend to the duties of his office “every day” on which a mail shall arrive at his office, and at “all reasonable hours” on every day of the week. When a mail is conveyed on the Sabbath, it must be opened and exchanged at the offices which it may reach in the course of the day. This operation at the smaller offices occupies no more than ten or twelve minutes; in some of the larger offices it occupies one hour, and, it is believed, does not greatly interfere with religious exercises as to the postmasters themselves.
The practice of “delivering letters and newspapers on the Sabbath” is of recent origin, and, under the above-quoted section, commenced in 1810. Prior to that period, no postmaster (except the postmaster at Washington City), was required to deliver letters and newspapers on the Sabbath. The “reasonable hours” were to be determined by the postmaster-general, who established the following regulations, now existing:—“At post-offices where the mail arrives on Sunday, the office is to be kept open for the delivery of letters, &c. for one hour after the arrival and assorting of the mail; but in case that would interfere with the hours of public worship, then the office is to be kept open for one hour after the usual time of dissolving the meetings for that purpose.”
Also, if the mail arrives at an office too late for the delivery of letters on Saturday night, the postmaster is instructed to deliver them on Sunday morning, at such early hour as not to encroach upon the hours devoted to public religious exercises. If these regulations are not strictly attended to, it must be imputable to the urgency of applicants and the complaisance of postmasters.
After the preceding statement, it is to be observed that public policy, pure morality, and undefiled religion combine in favor of a due observance of the Sabbath.
Nevertheless, a nation owes to itself an exercise of the means adapted to its own preservation and for the continuance of those very blessings which flow from such observance; and the nation must sometimes operate by a few of its agents, even on the Sabbath; and such operation may, as in time of war, become indispensable, so that the many may enjoy an uninterrupted exercise of religion in quietude and safety. In the present state of the nation it may be supposed necessary daily to convey governmental orders, instructions, and regulations, and to communicate and receive information. If the daily carriage of the mail be as relates to the safety of the nation a matter of necessity, it also becomes a work of mercy.
When peace is fully established, the necessity will greatly diminish, and it will be at all times a pleasure to this department to prevent any profanation of the Sabbath, as far as relates to its official duty or its official authority.
In England the postal regulations for the Sabbath are as follows. They differ very little from our own:—
“During the time the office is open on Sunday (viz. from 9 to 10 in the morning, and one other hour), the public are allowed to prepay foreign and colonial letters, to purchase stamps, and to have letters registered; and all other duties are performed as usual, except money-order and savings-bank business,50 which on that day is wholly suspended.”
At no provincial town in England or Ireland is there more than one delivery on Sunday or the sacramental fast-days; and any person is at liberty to prevent even this delivery, so far as relates to himself, as shown by the following regulations:—
“1st. Any person can have his letters, &c. retained in the post-office on Sunday, by addressing to the postmaster a written request, duly signed, to that effect; and such request will be held to include newspapers and all other postal matters, even such as may be marked ‘immediate,’ as no distinction is allowed.
“2d. No letters, &c. the non-delivery of which by the letter-carrier on Sunday has been directed can be obtained from the post-office window on that day.
“3d. Private box-holders have the option of applying for letters at the office while it is open for delivery on Sunday, or of abstaining from so doing, as they may think proper; but no person can be permitted to engage a private box for Sunday only.”