LONDON: C. RICHARDS, 100, ST. MARTIN’S LANE.
THE NEW CRYSTAL PALACE
AND THE
CHRISTIAN SABBATH.
Isaiah v. 24.—“Therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Luke xvi. 13.—“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”
2 Timothy iii. 4.—“Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God: from such turn away.”
A SIMULTANEOUS effort is this day being made in this parish, by ministers of various sections of the one Church of Christ, to direct public attention to a question of no ordinary magnitude, with which the cause of national righteousness is identified; and to stir up the community to unite in vigorous, yet peaceful opposition to a project, which involves the perpetration of a great national sin.
Most of those now present have gazed with admiration on the marvels of the memorable and magnificent Crystal Palace of 1851, the design of which originated with the same Prince who, in his homage to the Supreme Ruler of nations, had previously suggested as an appropriate motto for our Royal Exchange the words now graven on its pediment: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” It was in beautiful harmony with this recognition of the sovereignty of Heaven, and it formed one of its most gratifying features, that the doors of the Crystal Palace were closed on the Lord’s day. England thus solemnly proclaimed to assembled nations that she exalted the spiritual above the material—the eternal above the temporal—the immortal above the perishable—in a word, by this public acknowledgment of the Divine law, the Royal Commissioners, in the nation’s name, put honour on the Sabbath of God.
The gorgeous fabric, whose wonders had attracted myriads of spectators, having fulfilled its design, by exhibiting in peaceful rivalry the products of genius, and science, and industrial skill, collected from all nations, was ordered to be taken down. Many were anxious for its preservation; meetings were held and petitions presented to the Legislature on the subject; but it was finally decided, by a vote of the House of Commons, that, in accordance with the terms of the original agreement, the structure should be removed. The directors of a railway company then resolved to purchase the materials, and reconstruct the edifice on a new site, in an improved and more enduring form, and on a scale of unprecedented magnificence and splendour. In connection with this movement, a crisis most grave and momentous has come upon us, fraught with the elements of danger to our national Sabbath, and to that morality and social order which largely depend on its due observance. It is stated, with an air of authority, by the press, that an application has been made to the Prime Minister of the country for a charter of incorporation, enabling the company to open the Crystal Palace, under Royal sanction, on the afternoon of the Lord’s day; that he has signified his acquiescence, and that the responsible advisers of the Crown are prepared to recommend the granting of the charter, with the required licence. It, therefore, becomes the duty of every Christian in the land, who rejoices in the blessed privileges of the Sabbath, to plead for its full and faithful observance. True it is that some concessions are made, in apparent deference to the religious feelings of the community. It is proposed that no train shall run before one o’clock on the Lord’s day; that after that hour the public shall be admitted only to the park and to that portion of the palace called the Winter Garden; whilst the compartments devoted exclusively to productions of manufacturing and commercial industry shall be closed; and further, the directors undertake that on the Sabbath day no spirituous liquors shall be sold in the grounds. But notwithstanding these plausible concessions, nay all the more because of the false principles which I am persuaded they involve, I still regard the proposition with abhorrence, as opposed to an express command of Heaven, and I stand here to-night, resolved in the strength of God to lift up a solemn protest against it, and to urge on all who hear me the necessity of endeavouring, by dutiful remonstrance, to prevent the systematic violation of God’s law under the sanction of the executive authority of the realm.
There are certain leading ideas suggested by the passages I have read, which bear upon the subject now before us. It is clearly indicated that the law of God cannot be despised or violated by any nation without bringing down upon it the righteous judgments of Heaven (this being especially true with regard to the transgression of the law of the Sabbath), and it is also taught that the service which God demands is such as will admit of no compromise, either with the claims of covetousness on the one hand, or with the pursuit of sinful pleasure on the other.
I. The Law of God cannot be violated by any nation, without exposing it to the righteous judgments of Heaven. This is a great principle repeatedly laid down in Scripture, and fully authenticated by the facts of history. It holds true with regard to individuals as well as nations, and is abundantly illustrated by the course of events in the natural as well as in the spiritual world. There are fixed laws which regulate the phenomena of the sun and the solar system, by which the planets move in their orbits, and all derive light and heat from the king of day; and if it were possible to disturb this harmony by any dislocating force, then all things in the universe would be out of place, and “chaos” would “come again.” There are fixed laws, also, by which health and life are regulated, protected, and preserved, any violation of which brings its own punishment. You cannot take up fire without being burned, for it is the property of fire to burn; you cannot handle the venomous serpent, and expect that it will not pierce you with its deadly fangs; for it is the nature of the serpent—the very law of its life—to poison and destroy. You cannot eat or drink to excess, without deranging that beautiful concord of the bodily organs which constitutes health, and bringing on yourself disease and premature death. And if we turn to the spiritual world, we shall find similar results. Sin is the spiritual serpent which poisons and destroys the life of the soul. Extend its baneful influence from the individual to a family, all are brought under its blight and curse. And so it is of communities and nations, which are aggregates of individuals, and subject, in their collective capacity, to the same law. The kingdoms of the earth are placed under the eye and control of Him who is Governor among the nations, and to whom they are under solemn responsibilities. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, whilst sin is the reproach (as well as the ruin) of any people.” Let it not be forgotten that the Lord Jesus Christ is “King of nations,” as well as “King of saints;” and oftentimes, in the history of the world, have his judgments been made manifest. Seated on his mediatorial throne, “all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth.” The nation or kingdom that will not serve him “shall be utterly wasted;” and history, we repeat, has fearfully attested the exercise of his dread authority, and the vindication of his prerogative to “root out, to pull down, and to destroy” the despisers of his law.
Thus it was that God dealt with the heathen nations of Canaan. The “iniquity of the Amorites” was “not yet full” when He made a covenant with Abraham, subsequently renewed to Jacob at the foot of the mystic ladder; but the cup was filled up to overflowing when Joshua crossed the Jordan as Heaven’s own avenger.
It was so with Egypt. She held in iron bondage the people of God, and clung to her abominable idolatry in the worship of birds and beasts and creeping things. Even while by the colony of shepherds, who had migrated from Palestine to Goshen, the light of Divine truth was kindled in her midst, she remained an impenitent rebel; and when ten plagues had wasted her borders, and sent the wail of sore bereavement in one night into every family, the last act in the drama of Divine judgment was consummated in that anger which whelmed the chariots and horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh in the surging billows of the Red Sea.