The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-04 00:00:00

OUTPORTS.

Plymouth, Feb. I.—Salled—Flying Fish, Liverpool.
Belfast, Feb. I.—Arrived—Aristides, Syra.
Greenock, Feb. I.—Arrived—Ysabell,,Matanza—GipseY, Trinidad
•Duke of Wellington, Callao. Sailed.—Woodpoint, Genoa.

MARITIME EXTRACTS.
Liverpool, Feb. 2.—The three schooners that were ashore yester-
day near Crosby Point, were outward bound; they got off on the
1,110.0 ed an
~
sailed
rpoecce.e2d6e d; —cildTheotßleoanvitae
0,
nEileturEiitrigeuys, from h
vessel
In Ceara,port ;b rrexypeed.
rieneedheavy westerly gales since leaving the Trades, and frequently
obliged to heave to since leaving the Azores.—Wm. Thomas, Palfrey.
.frora Newfoundland and Queenstown, arrived here, was towed
round from Queenstown with loss of top Sails, by the steam-
tug Tartar; bound to Yernambuco..—Ther Lewtas; from' Newry,
arrived here, with loss of foremast, port-bow stove, ,Bte., having
been in contact,last evening west of the N. W. 'Light Ship with Ile
Ann, outward bound, which has put backswith loss'd jibboom, cut
water, &c. • • • • ;fr
Beaumaris, Jan. 31.—The Matilda, from Liverpool to Waterford,
which anchored in. Friar's Roads to-day, after being ashore on
Dutchman's Bank, has not received any damage.

or Holyhead, Jan. 31.—The Mary, of Cork, from Southampton, to
Liverpool, which: bilged outside the breakwater, Jan. 2g, has com-
menced discharging her cargo of scrap iron.—The Cheshire Witch.
from Arklow to Liverpool, which put into the Old Harbour, Jan, 29,
leaky, must discharge.
Queenstown, Feb.::.—The Buidier, arrived here yesterday, passed
through a lot of palm oil casks the day previous, at 2 p m., in lat. 49,
lon. 7,—The barque Providence, just arrived, spoke the steam-tug
Ratticr in search of the derelict ship Garrow, from Africa, yester-
day, in lat. 49,10 n. 8.
Warren Pont, Feb. I.—The cargo of the Alciope is all landed in
good condition, except hoop and bar iron spottei, and from 15 to 20
tons of salt deficient—pumped out.
Marsei,les, Feb. I.—Arrived—The Alhambra (5.), Morns, trona
Alexandria, with the mails from India.
The Confucius, for Amoy, (not of Liverpool,) put back to Hong
Kong with pumps choked, sails split, &c., havinf experienced
heavy gales from N. to N.E. On the 14th Nov. made the Ladrones,
and was chased all night by ten or twelve junks.
Lisbon, Jan. 26—The Christina, Costa. from Liverpool, which
was reported to have been ashore inside Fort • St. Julien and
assistea off, did not touch, but was merely very near the rocks he
Louise. from Swansea to Bombay. has jus ; put in here, with loss of
bulwarks. stanchcons, chain plates, &c , having been in contact
wish the Thos. 'AC, of Liverpool, Jan. 5,300 miles from the Lance,/
End

FOREIGN PORTS

Earl of Carrick (a s.). sailed from Messina for the Levant, Jan. 16.
llnrnharu, Conrad, Excei ent, Nina, and Wanderer—all put back
to'llong Kong, having experienced teary gales from N.E.
"Otto, White, hence at Havana.
Frankfort (5.5.), sailed from G2noa for Leghorn, Jan. 25.
Thomas Whitworth, Matson, hence at Leghorn.
N. S. de la Victoire sailed fry m Matanza for Liverpool, Jan. 10.
Pera (s.), from Southampton at Malta, and sailed for Alexandria,

THE SABBATH DEFENCE MOVEMENT.

*

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—ln my last letter, I shewed that the divine author of
our religion, reprobated such an observance of the Jewish
Sabbath, as was adverse to the temporal well-being of man-
kind—that St. Paul warned the Colossians against the
observance of Sabbath-day's— as inconsistent with
spiritual faith—that there is no authority to suppose that
the Sabbath was transferred to the Lord's day, but that
on the contrary, many great teachers of the Gospel from
the earliest down to our own times, reprobated such an
opinion as man's device, and tending to superstition.
From this I inferred, that it was no less unfounded than
uncharitable an imputation for any one to say, that they
are " fighting ,against. God " who hold that Sunday is no
Sabbath.

• shall now explain why I warned my fellow Christians,
who attended the gathering at St. George's Hall, to beware
lest they fall into dangerous error.

This epithet was no rhetorical ornament, nor was it
used unadvisedly. •

The religion. taught by our Saviour, superseded all
those observances which od had ordained as necessary
Tor mankind, in its moral and intellectual infancy.
batentatious alms-giving, fasting, long prayers, observ-
vices of holy times, Pnci holy places are throughout the
Gospels shown to be of little worth compared with faith
in Christ, and the habitual exercise of good-will towards
men in obedience to his teaching. The former are shadows,
they are but carnal and ceremonial ; the latter are of the
body, which is of Christ.

Mankind, •however, has constantly erred in deviating
from a faith so pure and spiritual. I will shortly give
the great historical instances, in which there have been
signal punishments for the adoption of man's devices,
instead of gospel truth.

A superstitious veneration for the time of keeping
Easter, produced a persecution in the reign of Justinian.
In later ages, to partake of flesh meat in Lent was
rigorously punished as a crime, and upon one memorable
occasion in the last century, a French Provincial Parlia-
ment had the revolting inhumanity to punish with death,
a starving wretch, who had picked up and eaten some
carrion during that season.

An overstrained anxiety to merit Heaven by prayer and
fasting, instead of practisiug the ordinary duties of life
according to Christ's teaching, resulted in the institution
of anchorites and hermits. These while they remained
solitary, sank both in spirit and soul very nearly to the
level of the brute creation. When they became united
they formed those monastic establishments;which are still
the curse and disgrace of Christendom. They soon
weakened civil society and were among the causes that
contributed to the destruction/of the great Christian
empire. _

By ostentatious alms-giving these establishments were
perpetuated and extended, often to the impoverishment of
the children of the donors, always to the misery of -the
unhappy victims whom force or fraud immured in irra-
tional and unnatural seclusion from the field in which
God has willed that man shall work out his salvation.
From a superstitious veneration for places arose the
slaughter of tens of thousands in .the crusades, and it
is strange enough that even the present war with Russia
originated in a quarrel between Greek and Latin monks
for the possession of the so-called holy places at Jeru-
salem— still a darling object of adoration to those
grovelling minds, which cannot comprehend that Heaven
is God's throne, and the whole earth his footstool.
These are the tremendous penalties exacted from man-
kind for acts suggested by religious feeling, but at variance
with the spiritual faith of our divine teacher. The ques-
tion naturally arises, whether a Sabbatarian observance
of Sunday should be classed with such acts. I answer
frankly, in kind it belongs to them, in degree only it
differs from them, so far as respects marked historical
results. Still it has left deep and indelible traces of its
malignant influence.

The re-publication of the Book of Sports, which autho-
rized certain amusements'of the people on Sundays, was
not the least important of the charges which served as a
pretext for the murder of Archbishop Laud. He justified
himself by appealing to the practice of the severest of the
reformed churches, viz., that of Switzerland.

When Knox first saw Calvin it was at a bowling-green
on a Sunday while the latter was engaged in a game. At
the present time, a new regulation has just been promul-
gated in Brunswick forbidding work on Sundays till
after five in the afternoon. but permitting pleasure trips
and all other recreations of the people after two. This is
in a country which has been Protestant, without inter-
mission, from the time of Luther.

tTo return from this digression. Shortly after Laud's
murder, in New England where the Sabbatarian spirit
had free scope, its dominion became not merely tyrannical,
but ridiculous—a mother was forbidden by law to kiss
her infant on a Sunday.

:In Old England, within the last twelve months, we
have ourselves witnessed the cruel and wicked conduct of
magistrates, who condemned a poor man to pay a fine, or
be imprisoned for the offence of gathering his harvest on
a Sunday—a work both of mercy and necessity, and so
justifiable by our Lord's authority, even if Sunday were
a Sabbath.

It may be objected we are not judges of Archbishop
Laud, we are not legislators of New England, nor are wo
magistrates. What danger can we incur if we sanctify
Sunday as a Sabbath? The reply is not difficult. We
have Christian liberty to do as.we will in these matters ;
but it is perilous to suppose that in such unwarranted
sanctification there is any special obedience to God's will.

The danger is not imaginary.. We have had painful
instances, both in this town and elsewhere, that an austere
demeanour, large almsgiving, and rigorous Sabbatical
observance, are no guarantees that persons may not be
guilty of the grossest and most wicked dishonesty. The
convict Sir J. Paul is one memorable example. Another
is a person of much the same pretensions in this town
who was, on his recent failure, discovered to have been
conducting .a considerable business for several years when
he was in an insolvent state—in other words, to have pro-
ceeded upon an organised system of duplicity and,
swindling. _ _

In the ordinary language of the world these men are
called hypocrites. I believe on the contrary that there is
no appellation in the language more utterly inappropriate.
It is more probable that both were sincere, for it is the
curse of the carnal ceremonial spirit which delights in
outward observances, not merely to instal its idols side
by side with Christian virtues, but in the course of time
to look upon the latter as of little worth, and finally
neglect them. With persons so circumstanced an austere
demeanour, a regular attendance at prayers, and a listless
abstinence from every useful and agreeable occupation on
Sundays, come to be regarded as religion itself. By this
standard they jpdge their own godliness and that of
others. They lose the moral sense, They can no longer
discriminate good from evil. This obscuration, not merely
of faith but of ordinary reason, becomes the more striking
when we reflect that the only important observance,
Divine -worship, is comprised in hearing the precepts of
Christianity, and prayer for strength to follow them.
Neither of these constitute piety or religion, any more
than precept can be said to constitute_practice in any
other instance. It is upon our actions among our fellow-
creatures.in the performance of the ordinary duties of
every-day life that we are taught by the Gospel to expect
God's blessing if they are done in accordance with His
will. To neglect these for the sake of external obser-
vances is a danger to :which all are, more or less, liable.
The needle points to the pole, if it be not disturbed by a
neighbouring magnet. That an unwarrantable veneration
for Sabbatical observance may prove to be a disturbing
influence upon Christians is the danger of which I warn
those who think that, in this respect, they may depart
with impunity from the Spiritualism of the faith of Christ.
—Yours, &c., •A CHURCHMAN.

FUNDING THE RAILWAYS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—The meeting of shareholders held in the Cotton
Sales-room last week, induces me to make the present
proposal to your readers, and the fact of public attention
being drawft towards this important question, may make
my observations opportune.

Let government fund the railways—paying off all dissen-
tients in Railway Issues, to be cancelled when presented
in payment of tolls and fares. When this paper was all
paid in and cancelled, a fresh issue might be made, to
the extent of the annual traffic, in paying off the share-
holders ; making the railways, in a few years, public
property.
Let government guarantee three and a-half per cent out of
the consolidated fund, making Railway consols. The whole
nation derives so many collateral advantages from im-
proved communication, that ruin should not be allowed to
fall on a small section of the nation, who are punished
with loss of property for carrying out a system which is
the boast and glory of civilisation. Government might
secure the services of the present experienced servants of
the railway companies, and we should have the benefits of
combined action and centralisation. We should again
travel on the Queen's highway, and not be indebted for
power of locomotion to this company or that; who, if
they find they cannot make dividends, may shut up their
stations some fine morning in the face of the travelling
public. At this present moment, the Eastern Counties,
finding their funds deficient, have allowed the line to get
out of repair ; thus, endangering the lives of her Majesty's

It is time to have done with the old radical objection to
government being invested with the powers of governing.
We give up the administration of justice to government;
we confide the control of the army and navy to govern-
ment. Government manages the post-office, the stamp-
office, and the excise, and surely we may trust govern-
ment with the superintendence of the locomotion of the
country. The right of way was always under the crown,
and the
great highways were called the King's highroad.
We must no longer surrender our rights to great joint
stock companies. As it is, one company has taken pos-
session of the Queen's prerogative of issuing money ; an-
other has a sort of divided government over a great
empire. Mutual assurance which ought to be national in
rler, ctors.
then,
without question, !government exercises the
its objects, its machinery, ;Ind its calculations, is a prey
to banded bodies of capitalists ; the lighting and water
supply of towns are mostly in similar hands; and finally,
we cannot go from place to place, or traverse the kingdom
in any direction without the permission of railway
di
prerogative: of administering justice—of providing for
defence--of regulating postal communication—of coin*
and issuing money—surely without question, ought
government to ,have in its hands the locomotion of the
country ?
Then comes the question of patronage.
Patronage is as grossly abused by directors as it could
possibly be by government, and jobbing more systematic-
ally
pursued by these functionaries under their proxy
sys-
tem than it dare be by government..—l AM, sir,
It Liverpool, February 2, IW-6.J. H. .