It is taken for granted that, when a paper or other periodical will admit a controversial article of argument, admission is earnestly to be sought for it. But facts shortly stated tell best, at least in the general newspaper press; and particular care should be taken at all times to suffer no hostile statement or article to pass without its correction or answer. It is always undesirable, in a labour of this kind, to allow any evil impression to settle down undisturbed on the public mind. It may not look formidable at first, but it festers and ferments, and by and by comes to bulk large, or explodes in a formidable way. In an arduous Edinburgh struggle some years ago, the author knows that three gentlemen, in a manner, beat the town, by meeting every day, with every newspaper laid before them, and following up every statement with an instant answer and exposure—a sort of incessant battery against which nothing can stand. So annoyed was one worthy opponent by the clatter, that, fastening on the obnoxious three, he said, “There will be no rest for the toon, till H., B., and C, are hanged on a gallows on the Castlehill!”
The power of the newspaper press is infinite. It is like the caloric of nature; it overspreads the whole face of society; it insinuates itself into the darkest and coldest, and penetrates the most obtuse, regions. The ever-recurring “article” is like the water-drop, which, small and light in look, will, oft repeated, pierce the hardest rock. To the religious press the obligations of the friends of this cause are unspeakable; and the irreligious helps it too, if not by its violence, at least by its constrained spreading of intelligence, for, with exceptions, the newspaper press at large is fair.
3. Let it be a rule at the headquarters of each of the contested railways—the town where its meetings are held—to keep a list of the Sabbath friends in all the other towns, in each of which it is very important to have some one known leader, or medium of communication; [31] and during the interval between half-yearly meetings, care should be taken, by mutual interchanges, to keep them one and all in full information of every important thing that happens, or suggestion that occurs, in any place. Lists also should be kept of all the friends in the different places; and the way to secure this is for every one, when he hears of a new Sabbatarian, to dot down his name on the instant, and send it every where. This is an excellent freemasonry.
4. It is, in one sense, needless to say—but it is most important—that every effort should be made to prevail on friends to buy into railway companies. Let not the smallness of the purchase in any case lead to indifference about making it. Its true value may be great, though in numerical worth it is little. Sir Andrew Agnew fought the battle of the Sabbath at Glasgow on a £50 stock certificate; and at periods of depression the qualification may be acquired for much less. Moral weight ever tells; and, when it also has a tongue, it tells more emphatically.
5. In this view, it would be of admirable effect if churches would collect, and invest their clergymen with railway qualifications. Where, for example, a railway, in passing through a parish, annoys the clergyman by the falling away of this good man and that good man, tempted to his soul’s ruin by the holiday pastimes or comfortable berths thrown in his way by the railway managers, how influential would it be if the bereaved shepherd of the flock came to the directorship wolves, and upbraided them to their faces—if conscience were too steeled for entreaty—on account of their unhallowed leading of the poor into temptation! And how impressive is the doctrinal lecture of the godly minister at the meeting, as he answers the flippant sophistries issuing from the chairs of railway power, or from its monied benches! Dr Mackellar, Dr M‘Farlane, Mr Leake, and Mr Macnaughtan, have often sent the enemy away with that dart in the heart or confusion in the face, which, through a blessing from on high, may yet reach even an obdurate railway nature.
6. Great good has been experienced from the presence of clergymen at the railway meetings. Some of them, indeed, shrink from the railway contest as if it were out of their sphere. But Parliament has consigned the Sabbath to the keeping of the railway shareholders; and is there a solid ground for doubting whether clergymen are in the way of duty when they qualify, for the purpose of lifting their voice in its defence? They are not injured when worldly men speak all manner of evil against them for the Lord’s sake, unless they revile again when they are reviled. On the contrary, their Christian graces are stirred up by the exercise; and they shine more bright—their enemies themselves being judges—when subjected to the friction of rough usage. But of this they will experience little. It is the laity who form the object of attack; and clergymen may be assured that their respected presence less exposes them than it shields the laity. Clergymen speak authoritatively on points of doctrine, and few even of the boldest laymen presume to controvert their doctrine openly, or, if they do, they injure their own cause more than they shake the truth. Ministers thus preach the gospel in season and out of season.
7. Parliament having taken up the Sabbath subject, it is well to bear these two advices in mind. First, To send petitions, not to the Plumptres and Breadalbanes of either House because they are known friends; but to the member for the particular locality petitioning, or to any one of the lords who may be resident in the neighbourhood, and known to, or interested in, the people. And, second, to see that letters be written to these noble and honourable persons by electors, or other influential individuals of the district (ladies included), as numerously as possible. If similar letters be also written to the known friends in Parliament, apprising them of the petition, and requesting their attendance and support when it is presented, practical good will by and by be the result.
Last, but not least, the doing of these things requires money. It shall not be believed, that if the doing of them be right, the means of doing will be wanting; for they must be done by religious men; and religious men will not withhold money where it is wanted for the service of God.
Resuming this whole matter, we urge on the religion of the country, and with equal earnestness and confidence, the conviction, that it is always easy to establish an efficient Sabbath railway action in any railway company, however cold or hostile the country may be. If two gentlemen of principle and determination take as much stock as will afford to each a vote, and one of them give notice that, at the next meeting, he will move against Sabbath traffic; if he and his second be at their post on that occasion, and make their speeches—no matter how long or how short—calmly, resolutely, and with imperturbable good temper; the thing is done. They lose, of course, at first; but the question is entered. They renew their notice quietly for next meeting after each defeat; the affair moves forward, gathering strength as it goes; and there is a sort of awe about the commandment, which tells on the most hostile: the motion becomes a subject of talk, possibly of annoyance: but the leaven works; it appears in the actings of other companies, spreading encouragement all around: the power of reiteration is felt: the religion of England is roused, and minds are indoctrinated with the truth which might never otherwise have come in contact with it: the enterprise looks formidable at first; but the Word of God prevails; and, if the triumph be long of coming, its postponement is but a trial of faith.
Let our two imagined shareholders, thinking over the matter in their homes, stir up themselves to see, that while England boasts, with justice, of its May meetings, they may yet give it its Spring meetings and its Autumn meetings. They may, by their introduction of the Sabbath question into the railways, be the instruments of establishing Spring meetings and Autumn meetings, not less efficient in their own sphere than those of May, in drawing out and diffusing and consolidating the righteous principles of the country, and its holy practice in regard to the observance of the Lord’s-day; that test, cause, and fruit of the religious character of any people. For the practical use of all such devoted men, wherever they may be, they are here presented, within a little compass, with