The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-23 00:00:00

NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1856.

movement as well as a clerical movement ; and ono reason
why I shall not detain the meeting by a speech to-day is, that
I know there are laymen here who will stand forward upon
this subject, in support of so great and noble a cause. (Cheer..)
It is a consecration of St. George's-hall to-day to meet to-
gether here, Christians of all denominations, who
hold the truth as it is in Jesus—(emers)—combining
together, as one man, to resist to the very utmost,
by every lawful means, the doing away of our Sabbath protec-
tion laws. We (.1,3 not want to compel people to keep the
Sabbath. All that we want is the continuation of those
blessed laws which have protected the observance of the
Sabbath tLroughout this sacred land. (:Tear, hear, and
cheei,.) And therefore I shall sit down, merely assuring this
meeting that it is fr.,m my inmost soul I support and second
every syllable which has been uttered to-day in moving this
resolution. (Cheers.) _ . . . .

The resolution was then put from the chlir, and carried
unanimously amid loud applause.

The Rev, Francis West said he had . great pleasure in
moving the second resolution :—" That this meeting solemnly
believes that the Sabbath is essentially desecrated, whether by

its cpcn profanation in evil works on the one band, or b

simple secularisation, as a day of mere amusement, or of
wo, Idly business, on the other. It sees therefore with profound
sorrow the licensed opening of public-houses on the Sabbath,
for the sale of intoxicating liquor, to the great and acknow-
ledged demoralisation of the people. And it regards with the
utmost apprehension the existing, or proposed, provisions for
their so•ca'.led amusement, whether by music in the public
parks, or by opening museums, exhibitions, or other like
places." The rev. gentleman proceeded to say that he
rejoiced to witness an assembly like that at present gathered
together for the defence of the Christian Sabbath, and to titter
a voice which should be heard throughout every part of the
United Kingdom, and which ho trusted would be but the
beginning of similar great efforts upon the part of all their
large towns, and rural population, in the defence and support of
the Christian Sabbath. (hear, hear, and cheers.) ll°
heartily rejoiced in the clear, and well-defined, principle of the
first resolution, which had been carried unanimously, by so vast
an assembly as, he thought, he never before had been per-
mitted to witness. (Cheers.) It clearly showed that, with all
the diversity of opinion which might exist among moral and
religious teachers, and various bodies of Christian professors,
yet in the main, and on the great and fundamental questions,
they were an united body of Protestant Christians. The whole
of this question, in its most extensive sense, as well as in its
minutest details, turned upon the principle which had been so

ably enunciated by Dr. M'Neile. Either the Sabbath was of
human origin, and the result of human opinion and human
legislation, or it was strictly and imperatively obligatory, be-
cause of its being divine. (Rear, hear.) There, then, must
rest the strength of their cause, that it was a divine ordinance.
They could not be weak while they had weapons of argument
from a divine armoury ; and he believed that they could not
but be successful, if they carried out their controversy in the
spirit which had been that morning suggested to them. The
Sabbath did exist, and he would ask how it came to exist ?
Would any one tell him at what period it was that the men of
of all nations, or the men of any one nation, met together, and
deliberated, and determined that they would observe one day in
the seven as a day of rest from all labour ? The speaker traced
out the distinction between the Christian Sabbath, and the
Sabbath of the Jews, and showed the divine authority upon
which our Sabbath rests. He then proceeded to say that it
was clearly shown to be absolutely necessary upon physical
grounds alone, that there should be a day of rest to all work-
ing men, a day of rest to all mankind. This was included in
the gracious command of Almighty God himself. God had
nowhere sanctioned idleness or improvidence, but he had
declared that labour was to terminate with the sixth day, and
that the seventh was to be the Sabbath, the day of rest, the
day free from all worldly occupation and toil, from all mental
anxiety and care, from all the deliberations and calculations of
the senate, from ti.e business of the counting-house —a day of
cessation for the barrister of perusing his briefs, anti of the
mercantile man from corresponding and answering letters.
And of all who sought their pleasure or their own pelvate ends,
not one of them had the sanction of the principle, or the
letter of the word of Almighty God, if they followed any work
of labour whatever upon the Sabbath day. As it was neces-
sary that each day should have its Sabbath by the sweet repose
of sleep, "tired nature's sweet restorer," so it was necessary
that there should be a pause made after the .toils and the
obligations of the whole week, and that the Sabbath should
be kept sacred as a day of rest and retire-
ment—of mental repose—of pious meditation—of the
indulgence of fireside affections, and of all the virtues
which spring up around the hearth-stones of all Christian
fa:nilies. (Rear, hear.) That was the true repose for man,
that his l.eart should find rest, and that he should enjoy what
God had appointed for the recruiting of his tired nature, by
one day out of the seven being free from all worldly engage-
ments. In the evidence which was given, when Sir Andrew
Agnew's committee sat upon the great question of the obser-
vance of the Lard's day, when a much fairer investigation of
the subject was given, than that by the late committee upon
the sale of beer act, in reference to which, any one examining
the important report would clearly see,lthat there was not a
fair opportunity for those who could give evidence on behalf of
morality, and of the working man's Sabbath of rest; in the
former committee's report it would be found declared, by a
physician of long practice and experience, that he found it
absolutely necessary to enjoin upon all his patients, to have
an equivalent for the Sabbath day, it they did not literally
observe the Sabbath. For instance,,a minister should have
his Monday free from all interruption and toil, and the great
press of business which had frequently to be encountered by
them. The Sabbath of the minister was his working day, and
he rtjoiced to work upon it. But he had a

t to onc• d

and happy Was the ministi

ese times, was able to secure even half of that. (Cheers.;
take the testimony of all medical rt en, and it would hi

fo:ind that they all declared this day of rest as absolutely
needed for the physical condition of mln. (Hear, hear.) But
it was not merely a question of physics. It was a question
for the mind, it was a question for the heart, it was a question
for the soul; and well might George Herbert say, that " where
there is most of prayer, there is most of heaven." The ques-
tion involved the most dangerous results. If once the great

houses of amusement were opened, such as museums and
natiokial galleries, of course the lesser might claim the s.une

p,ivilege. Every town which possessed such opportunities
for the desecration of the Lord's Day would have open public
If these exhibitions were once allowed, they all
knew what the consequences would be. Shops would at once
be opened ; and they all knew that if once shops were opened,
the next thing would be that, after the fatigues and anxieties
of worldly commerce during the morning of the day, there
should be a liberal supply of amusements for the latter part of
the day. And then the Sabbath, which had been the
glorious distinction of this country, would be at once
demolished, and they should have substituted for it
the French Sabbath, which robbed every man of the
right which God had chartered to him in his own moral law.
(Hear, hear, and cheers,) This was a time when he felt
satisfied they should look for very serious results from the
question which now engaged them. Former times had
witnessed a great controversy, the settlement of which might
be looked upon as a test of the Protestant church—the great
doctrine of justification by faith alone in the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This question struck at the very root of
the entire system of heterodoxy and superstition, since it was
itself the very root of the Christian doctene of all Christian
morals. That question happily might be considered now as
virtually settled. They then had another great controversy
into which they had been drawn—the doctrine of spiritual
regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost, in which they
were opposed to all the mere traditions of men, and all mere
externalism. Ile did not need to say that it was by the church
of England, chiefly, this great question had to be settled, and it
was in hands thoroughly adequate to the whole controversy.
and which bad in point of fact already carried the day. But

museums

they were now suddenly called to a new controversy, which
struck at the root of all their Protestant institutions, which
affected the offices of their Christian ministry, which
touched very vitally all their Sabbath-school institutions,
which concerned . the. very religious organization
that was now so happily spread over the whole of the land.
This was not a time for men to go to sleep, when, • already
they were informed, that there were two organised societies
deliberately proposing to obtain, for the desecration of the
Lord's day, and of the whole sanctity and worship of the

day, the sanction of the legislature. It was without pre-
cedent, that man should openly avow the principles which
had been put forth by one section of their opponents. It
was a time to forget all the paints whereon they differed,

which were multitudinous, and to consider only,on- the other

hand, these points, which wore few, bet simple, sublime,
and practical, on which they all agreed. What was the
secret root, and the real strength, of all the opposition to
the sanctity of the Lord's day ? The real mainspring of it
was a question of gain; and he thought it was clear that
one of the principal points was the failure of the Crystal
Palace, as a mere money-making speculation. Those who
got up that scheme were anxious to cover their blunder—
their commercial blunder—by laying hold of the glins—
the hard-earned severely procured gains—of the working
classes, the great misses, in order to swell their dividend.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) There were other interested
persons, among those who were the open opponents of
Sabbath observance. The resolution which he was moving
referred to ono point which revealed a secret of greet
moment in the right adjustment of the question. That
Point was in regard to the sale of intoxicating liquors.
(Hear, hear.) They knew very well these who were inte-
rested in that sale, that if they could gain the sanction of
the legislature to make the Sabbath a clay of amusement, it
would be easy to turn it into a day of the highest profit to
themselves. (Hear, hear.) A day of worldly amusement
to the working man was usually not only. made an expen-
sive day, not only the most expensive day in the week, but
usually swallowed up a large portion of the earnings of the
week ; and if these earnings were to bo spent merely to gain
what was called amusement, they all knew into whose
deeply
pockets the profits would run, and why parties could find
reasons in their own selfishness for advocating a Sabbath to
be spent in amusements. (Hear, hear.) The advocates of
Sabbath
interestedobservance had b
ynot b
eonlyir
wto o
rl d
ly,
contendga
insand i i with thosecaw
ho
were
i
but they had to oppose a legislature which was fearful?),
indifferent upon the great question of the Christian
Sabbath. Tainted, probably, originally iu their edu-
cation by the lax notions which had been
taught in their Systems of moral and political
philosophy; Lnowing weli that the w hole bias of hamau

nature was against all that was sanctified and pare: and look-
ing to nothing to re,zulate public questionsbut the voice of the
people, they were willing to take shelter in their systems
of philosophy and in the supposed voice of the people. Dr.
l!PNeile bad truly told those around him where their weak-
ness lay, and yet he could not but think that here was a
demonstration which ought to be considered by all
legislators as having a voice of potency, for it was a union
of strength, an exhibition of combination and of earnest-
ness, which perhaps had never been exceeded in this town
upon any former occasion. (Hear, hear.) Let the legis'a-
tnre then hear the voice of the people. Lot the people give
ont a distinct enunciation of their determination to contend
to the last, by all lawful means, for the preservation of what
was the chief glory of this land, and the most blessed
inheritance of their Christianity. (Cheers.) They had to
contend with the infidel spirit of the age, with that im-
patience of moral restraint which it required all the efforts
of legislators, and magistrates, and police, and of those who

, the minist
,nd to bri

of the gospel,

to redu

to ord

Ito somE

Bnt they hail even

.monk themselves,

read those statements, and to say what they would find to
hive been the results in Scotland. Let him appeal to

y remind

.hem -that he

look his statistic 3 from-the report of Mr. Thomas-Lenten,
superintendent of the police,' and that they referred from
the beginning to the end of the year, on Whit Sunday in
each case. In 1853, the new act was not in force, but in
_

Let them tak

the reiult?

1855 it
did tin
Sunday
hands of the police,

those two yea.

In 1853. -Aiding on' Whit
of drunkards found in the

alone, were 1,340 ; in
ers.) But that did not

show the full adva
from eight o'clock

t them tat

on Vie

hat in 1

that th(

T days,

a'er enabled them

in 1E
that t
the S.

Lem, why. t

and th

the who:

hoar,)—th

ath alo

as, in of

IVlonday—let
lock, to Mond

riguisliod b
tverstition

of the forret
tecioa of G

them t

particu

t twelve

inion as to

t if t (