But will not the project under consideration be a gain to public morals, in regard of the lower vices of sensuality and intoxication? I answer unhesitatingly, No. Unhappily, we are not without our precedent of these Sunday gardens now—gardens which, in their disposition and decorations, appeal, and in their degree successfully, to the very tastes which it is among the purposes of the new speculation to cultivate. And these pleasure-grounds are found to be the heart and centre of the most debasing vices. Returns have been put into my hands from one of these haunts of Sabbath festivity in a country town,—described as being, in themselves, most attractive and beautiful. Into these gardens 3,000 people have gone on a Sunday evening, consuming among them nearly 600 gallons of malt liquor alone;—a quantity which, if a reasonable deduction be made for the number of children, would suppose one quart to have been consumed by every grown-up person, whether male or female, upon the ground. Let us, for the honour of the female sex, make a still further deduction, and what a humiliating reflection is forced upon us as to the state of a large majority of the men! Brethren, these are painful details to have to bring into a pulpit. But when we have beaten the adversary from every other ground—the ground of right, of truth, of religious decency, of national piety and honour—it may be well to see if he has any standing-place on the ground which he thinks unassailably his own. And this argument, that he will draw men off from the brutal indulgences of their own locality, is one which the champions of desecration make much of. Whereas I know, on the authority of those through whose hands the negotiations pass, that premiums of almost incredible amount are being offered for the liberty of erecting places in the neighbourhood, where the same low appetites may be ministered to, which the Sabbath-breaker finds gratified now in his own low tavern at home. [25] And then judge for yourselves whether he will be much less disposed to gratify them. Think of the excitement of the journey, the sensuous fascinations of the scene, the stimulating influence of a large living mass, all bent on unrestrained enjoyment, and then consider whether any other change will be wrought, in the habits of those whom it is sought to reclaim, than that they will do under some decorated and emblazoned booth, what they now do in an alehouse, and waste far more than they do already of those precious earnings which should go to buy their children bread. And where the carcase is, there will the eagles be. The cunning pickpocket will be there. The man of dissolute pleasures will be there. The shame of womanhood will be there;—all coming from far to keep each the Sabbath of their vocation—to worship at this great metropolis of immorality and sin.
Many other considerations there are, tending to make us view the present movement with deep dismay. We fear it cannot bode good to the cause of God and his truth, when Herod and Pilate are made friends; when the Romanist and the Neologian are urging the same forms of Sabbath observance; when “Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,”—the man of science, the man of pleasure, and the man of scrip and shares,—are all intent on the same scheme of social amelioration. The fear is not unnatural with us that the junction-point of this strange confederacy will be found, not in any result which they wish to achieve, so much as in some existing influence which it is their common desire to destroy,—namely, the influence of that pure and undefiled religion which teaches that science must bow to Scripture, that covetousness is only another name for idolatry, and that the man who allows himself in vicious or forbidden pleasures shall not have any “inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” We can only regard such united attempt as the first instalment of a yet more extended plan, by which we are to become assimilated to the profane usages of the Continent, until every place of public amusement or resort, from the national Museum to the itinerant puppet-show, shall throw open their doors to any Sabbath wanderer, who may desire, under cover of law, to do despite to God’s holy day. The constant plea put forth for these Sabbath recreations, that something must be done towards elevating the moral and intellectual tastes of our people, is not tenable for an instant. For, admitting the necessity, why should not the time required for it be taken from one of the six days now appropriated to the world, rather than from the one only day which we now set apart for God? But the whole is in true keeping with Infidel patriotism. It looks only on its own things. It spares itself. And then, when affecting a desire to redeem time for the improvement of the poor, like him who in the parable spared to take of his own flock and his own herd, it will not, by an hour, anticipate the closing of the factory, but demands that half the time be taken away from the few hours that are now given to the church. [27]
One word more, and I have done. The former Exhibition was opened with prayer. The act was a declared recognition of God’s right to control our recreations, and of the necessity of his blessing to make them either innocent or happy. Will the projectors of the new undertaking DARE to open their building thus? Will they, holding in their hands the outspread charter of desecration, DARE, with the breath of invocation, to blaspheme the God of heaven? I hazard no reputation for prophecy when I say they will NOT. For, though I have no right to infer that they would hesitate at mocking God by such an act, if they thought it would raise their shares, I am persuaded they would fear so to mock the English people. There is an element of veneration in our national character, which will not suffer itself to be outraged beyond a certain limit. Our people, even the worst of them, have no love for gratuitous profanations. If they do consent to sit down at Belshazzar’s feast, yet they will not drink wine out of the sacred vessels. Hence, whoever may be present at the coming inauguration of the god of this world in his palace, he will with difficulty repress the feeling, ‘I know this place is to be opened in utter defiance of the laws of God, and therefore for me to ask his blessing upon it would be as if a robber should first kneel down and ask God that he might be successful in his plunder, or as if the traducer of his neighbour’s fame should pray that he might have the benediction of heaven upon his ill report.’ No, brethren, if this Charter be granted, the building will be opened, as it has been commenced, without God, without a blessing, without a recognition of any power in the universe save that of Belial, who is to direct the pleasures of its votaries, and that of Mammon to fill the coffers of its founders with the fruit of unhallowed gains.
For the honour of our religion, then, for the moral happiness of our people, for the lengthening of our tranquillity, for the salvation of our land,—let me entreat you, while there is yet time, to protest against this uncalled-for impiety. Our voice made itself heard a short time ago, when a crafty Socinian influence, at the Post-Office, threatened our cherished sanctities:—we deserve to lose our Sabbaths for ever, if that voice be silent now. Wherefore, brethren, “Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; quit you like men; be strong.” Slacken not in your exertions, till all the weapons both of heaven and earth are spent; until you have vindicated your character as citizens, your rights as subjects, your religious consistency as Protestants, your faith, and love, and zeal, and piety, as Christians and as men of God. So shall “the Lord be entreated for our land,” and the on-coming “plague be stayed.” Amen.
Note A.
The statement that men are employed on the ground on the Lord’s-day, has been impugned, but in support of it I have permission to cite the authority of that respected upholder of our Sabbath sanctities, Joseph Wilson, Esq., of Clapham Park; who saw a large body of men at full work, with spades and pickaxes, on his way to church, on Sunday last. The excuse set up for this is that these men were engaged in firing the clay, and that the nature of this work was such as not to allow of the fires going out without serious loss. Without quoting some opinions given by the men themselves, denying this alleged necessity, I may mention that inquiries made in the neighbourhood by myself, convinced me that work is done on the Sabbath—over and above attending to the fires—though carried on in a way which tall boards and the sealed lips of interested parties make it difficult to detect.
Note B.
The challenge to those who profess such anxiety for elevating the condition of the poor, to give up some of their own time for the purpose, and not to “rob God,” is not put forth merely as a fair argumentative point. It is a grave suggestion which has been thrown out more than once, whether there should not be one half-day in the week agreed upon, through the length and breadth of the land, as the labouring man’s time for recreation and self-improvement. In manufacturing districts, where labour is paid for by the quantity done, leaving the workman master of his own time, this half-day is very generally taken, and long usage has appropriated Monday afternoon for the purpose. Why should not the convention be extended to those who have to work by time? The proposal seems to me to be worthy of all consideration. Let every wharf, and mill, and factory, close on Monday, at two o’clock. Let the national Museum, and other places of intellectual improvement, be thrown open. Let the paid Exhibitions, the Crystal Palace among them, lower their terms of admission to some merely nominal price. Let Societies be organized for providing lectures in the evening, on subjects of popular interest. Let district reading-rooms be opened, supplied with well-conducted newspapers, and other periodical literature. Let the national school-room be available on that evening for different adult classes, under the guidance of the clergy, or other friends of social improvement. That there is a desire among our poor to avail themselves of such facilities as those here referred to, I have, for the most part, proved in my own district; and should greater opportunities be afforded by employers, not only, I believe, would a change for good be effected in the social tastes and habits of our people, but the way would be gradually prepared for their realizing their Sabbaths as a “DELIGHT,” and, in the refined exercises of sacredness and mercy, keeping them “HOLY UNTO THE LORD.”
ERRATA.
Page [30], line 1 of Note B. For “of” read “to.”