The Sabbath / a sermon preached in Holy Trinity Church, Hurdsfield, on Sunday Evening, January 30, 1853, in reference to the proposed opening of the Crystal Palace on the Lord's day

Transcribed from the 1853 George Bell edition by David Price, email ccx074@pgaf.org
A SERMON,
PREACHED IN HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, HURDSFIELD.
SUNDAY EVENING , JANUARY , 30 , 1853 ,
IN REFERENCE TO THE PROPOSED OPENING OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE ON THE LORD’S DAY.
JOHN MARTINDALE FARRAR , M.A. , CURATE OF HURDSFIELD.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL, 186, FLEET STREET.
MACCLESFIELD: SWINNERTON AND BROWN.
1853.
ISAIAH LVIII. 13, 14. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
There is no belief so universal as that of a future state of existence. Men are born into the world, appear for a brief space upon the stage of life, and then sink into the grave. But the human mind has looked beyond this to a distant and unknown Future. Those who were destitute of a Divine Revelation had necessarily very vague and imperfect notions respecting it. Hence the many different theories, the belief in which has prevailed from time to time, in the heathen world; and, in all of these, the certainty of rewards and punishments, and of future happiness or misery, was admitted. Their heaven, indeed, was peopled with strange divinities, and the enjoyments which they anticipated were generally of an earthly and sensual nature; yet their belief in it seemed naturally to suggest the necessity of some preparation by themselves. The two things appeared to be inseparable. The entrance to the heathen Elysium was to be obtained only by piety towards the gods. Hence the gorgeous temples which rose to their honour in the cities of ancient Greece and Italy; the sacrifices daily made at their altars; the prayers and costly offerings at their shrines. And not only so, but particular portions of time seem from the earliest periods to have been regarded as sacred, and set apart for holy purposes; and it is remarkable, that the consecration of one day in seven appears to have been almost universal in the heathen world. This may, perhaps, be attributed to some faint rays of that Divine Revelation, which was given to a part of the human race, and which tradition had handed down: the principle itself was universally acknowledged. That Revelation, indeed, has cleared away the mystery which enshrouded the eternal world; it has explained the nature of that happiness which is provided for man; it has enjoined the observance of every seventh day as a time of preparation for it; it has distinctly laid down the obligation and duties of that day; and it has unfolded the promises which God has graciously made to those who shall habitually honour it.