Quotes on the Sabbath
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Religion and Morality

123. Religion; Ritual; Sabbath
I asked Johnson whether I might go to a consultation with another lawyer upon Sunday, as that appeared to me to be doing work as much in my own way, as if an artisan should work on the day appropriated for religious rest. Johnson: "Why, Sir, when you are of consequence enough to oppose the practice of consulting on Sunday, you should do it: but you may go now. It is not criminal, though it is not what one should do, who is anxious for the preservation and increase of piety, to which a peculiar observance of Sunday is a great help. The distinction is clear between what is of moral and what is of ritual obligation."
Boswell: Life
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331. Religion; Sabbath
Dr. Johnson enforced the strict observance of Sunday. "It should be different," he observed, "from another day. People may walk, but not throw stones at birds. There may be relaxation, but there should be no levity."
Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
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