The Sabbath and the Crystal Palace

The question of Sabbath observance is again brought before the public, and subjected to a new discussion. Points which we had considered as settled, and settled beyond the reach of doubt, are disputed. A change of circumstances is stated as requiring and involving a change of views; and the character which society is assuming in the present day, is said to justify a revision and reconsideration of the principles by which it has been previously regulated. A fresh attack in consequence is made on an ordinance which, having been accustomed to regard as the security of our national religion, the source of those streams of life which sanctify and refresh the souls of our people, we had hoped was secured from encroachment and curtailment by the law of the land, as well as by the authority of the word of God. The attack in this case, as might have been expected, comes from a different quarter, and is carried on in a different manner. It is not with open and avowed enemies that we have to contest the point, but with professed friends. Much for which we have contended on former occasions is conceded now. In many respects, the tone, the language, the object of those opposed to us are modified. The divine institution of a day of rest is admitted; the beneficent character of the appointment, its salutary influences, are acknowledged; its peculiar adaptation to the condition of man is recognised: and the only subject of dispute would seem to be, the form in which those influences should be exercised, and the general application of the blessing intended should be accomplished.
The good of man, the improvement of the labouring classes, the softening of their character, the refinement of their tastes, the development of intellect, and the correction of what is low and sensual in their enjoyments, are named as the objects of pursuit: and no one can hesitate as to the importance of these points, nor as to the value which all things lovely and of good report possess in christian estimation. With a view to the promotion of these objects, the advantages of a day of rest; its beneficent influence on the mind as well as the body; its increasing importance in a state of society like the present; its absolute necessity when man is exposed to the exhausting circumstances of manufacturing or commercial life, are admitted,—and not only admitted, but urged with as much zeal as was ever shown by those who contended for the strictest observance of the Sabbath in the days of religious controversy. Surprise and regret are therefore mixed together, when we find that those who see the importance of the institution in one sense so clearly, and can advocate its claims with so much power, should disappoint the expectations that had been indulged of their co-operation, and should finally become the assailants instead of the supporters of the principle we feel bound to maintain. They see so much in the institution of the Sabbath that is adapted to the weaknesses and wants of our nature, that they cannot help acknowledging its necessity. Under that conviction, forced upon them by the outcry of the whole creation, groaning and travailing together in pain, by the testimony of exhausted bodies and paralyzed intellect, they admit, they assert, as a fact that can no longer be denied, that the Sabbath was made for man, and accept it as a merciful provision made by God for the relief and consolation of his creatures; but as to the specific purpose which it is to serve in respect of man, as to the way in which the balm is to be used and applied, they have their own views, and those views they are determined to carry out in opposition to all that has been established and believed on the subject. It is clear, then, that we have not gained much by the concessions made by those who have been induced, under these representations, and with these views of the ordinance, to admit the divine authority of the Sabbath. They have attempted to disarm our opposition by professing to receive the same truth, while they were introducing views which superseded its application; and the controversy must now be transferred from the religious authority of the Sabbath, as a day of rest, to the form and manner of its observance by those who, on these grounds, acknowledge its obligation.