“A Sunday well spent brings a week of content” is a saying that has been printed on many images. The saying is said to be a “Golden Maxim” of Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676), but became popular in the 1830s and 1840s. “A Sabbath well spent brings a week of content” was an early version.
 
This was printed in The Cottager’s Monthly Visitor (London, UK) in July 1839:
 
“A Sunday well spent
Brings a week of content
And gives health for the toils of the morrow;
But a Sabbath profaned,
Whatsoe’er may be gain’d,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
   
   
Wikipedia: Matthew Hale (jurist)
Sir Matthew Hale SL (1 November 1609 – 25 December 1676) was an influential English barrister, judge and lawyer most noted for his treatise Historia Placitorum Coronæ, or The History of the Pleas of the Crown.
   
Google Books
July 1839, The Cottager’s Monthly Visitor (London, UK), pg. 237:
A GOLDEN MAXIM.
The golden maxim of Sr Matthew Hale, who was Lord Chief Justice of England in the reign of Charles II., 1670:—
 
“A Sunday well spent
Brings a week of content
And gives health for the toils of the morrow;
But a Sabbath profaned,
Whatsoe’er may be gain’d,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
 
16 February 1843, Hartford (CT) Daily Courant, pg. 2, col. 2:
THE GOLDEN MAXIM OF SIR MATTHEW HALE.
A Sabbath well spent
Brings a week of content
And gives health for the toils of to-morrow;
But a Sabbath profaned,
Whatsoe’er may be gained,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.
 
Google Books
Plain Practical Sermons, Volume 2
By John Wood Warter
London, UK: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington
1844
Pg. 32;
See Sir Matthew Hale’s “Contemplations, Moral and Divine,” vol. 1, p. 304, ed. 1695. It is thus given in the Christian Knowledge Society’s Almanack for 1844.—
 
A Sunday well spent
Brings a week of content,
And health for the toils of the morrow;
But a Sabbath profaned.
Whatsoe’er may be gained,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.
 
Google Books
August 1844, The Churchman’s Sunday Companion (London, UK), pg. 90:
A Sunday well spent
Brings a week of content,
And health for the toils of the morrow;
But a sabbath profaned.
Whatsoe’er may be gained,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.
 
8 July 1853, Brooklyn (NY) Daily Eagle, pg. 1, col. 2:
A Sunday well spent
Brings a week of content,
And health for the toils of the morrow;
But a Sabbath profaned.
Whatsoe’er may be gained,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.
 
The golden maxim of Sir Mathew Hale, who was Lord Chief Justice of England in the time of Charles II, was one which old White had caused his grandson to write in his best hand, and it was placed on the wall of their little cottage, with some printed hymns which had been his rewards while at school.
   
Google Books
Memoir of Old Humphrey, with gleanings from his portfolio, in prose and verse
London, UK: The Religious Tract Society
1855
Pg. 210:
“A sabbath well spent, brings a week of content,
And gives peace both to-day and to-morrow;
But a sabbath profaned, whate’er may be gain’d,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.”
 
Chronicling America
2 January 1862, Civilian and Telegraph (Cumberland, MD), pg. 1, col. 6:
WORTH REMEMBERING.
A Sunday well spent
Brings a week of content,
And health for the toils of to-morrow;
But a Sabbath profaned.
Whatever is gained,
Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.
     
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It’s Sunday-Funday!  Let’s spread some Sunday cheer with a fitting quote:  “A Sunday well spent brings a week of content.”  Share one of your favorite quotes to motivate you for the coming week!
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3:09 PM - 29 Apr 2018
 
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THE PHENOM
@ricsl1600
A Sunday well-spent brings a week of content. – Proverb #ALDUBWalangHiwalayan
12:44 AM - 30 Apr 2018