The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-20 00:00:00

PRICE 5d

CHURCH-RATE DEFEATED,
(From the Leeds Times of Dec. 18.)
The Vicar had a very large congregation yesterday.
He then saw something in the Cloth Hall-yard, which he
never saw before in Leeds. There were about 10,000
individuals there, belonging to his " cure of souls," who
came expressly on purpose to hold up their hands against
a Church-rate. Probably the Vicar never saw one-tenth
part of this congregation since he first commenced his
ministrations among us ; and probably there were very
many there also who never saw the Apostla whom the
State and the Pious Use trustees had seen meet to place
over this portion of the ecclesiastical vineyard. To do
the Vicar justice, he conducted the proceedings in a fair,
honest, and upright manner ; and, to do the 10,000 con-
gregation justice, they also did their duty in a manner
beyond all praise—they refused with one unanimous
voice the Established Church-rate.

The results of this meeting, probably one of the
largest ever held in England on any similar subject, ought
for ever to put an end to the imposition of Church-rates
in Leeds. There was every appearance of settled deter-
mination on the part of that vast multitude to resist the
imposts of the Church, under whatever form they are
attempted to be imposed. And what has the Church
done for the people, that they should pay it the 17,000 L
tribute that was proposed ? Has it ever been on the side
of popular rights and privileges ; has it educated, fed,
and attended to the interests of the poor ? Has it not, on
the other hand, been an abettor of slavery, political,
social, and religious, since ever it was established ? Op-
posed to education, opposed to enfranchisement, op-
posed to liberty of opinion, opposed to peace, opposed to
the progyess of human freedom ? The people owe no-
thing to the Church ; it has done nothing for them, but
every thing it could against them. No wonder that ten
thousand rate-payers, belonging to the industrious classes
of Leeds, should hold up their hands against an Esta•
blished Church-rate !

The behaviour of the meeting was most orderly
throughout ; and to this, tileViear himself bore his cor-
dial testimony. Excepting a few cries which we now
and then heard, while the Vicar was speaking, of "Hear
the Church," and " What salary do'st thou get, lad,"
&c., there was the utmost deference and respect paid to
him. The only thing to be regretted in the course of
the proceedings was, that the meeting would not listen
to one word that Mr. Edward Baines had got to say
to thein. As the " organ of the Dissenters," the meet-
ing should hate listened to Mr. Baines ; probably he
was about to prove-to themtthe necessity of doing sonic-
thing or other • and not unlikely be would have attempted
to show that Dissenters could have no conscientious objec-
tions to granting an additional freehold to the Established
Church. As it was, the " organ of the Dissenters," re-
mained unheard.

And now that this attempt to impose a Church-rate
has been so summarily defeated, we trust that the inha-
bitants of Leeds will lose no time in taking the proper
steps to provide a public burying-ground in Leeds, which
is so unquestionably needed for the accommodation of
the dead.

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—In your Paper, The Sun, November 30,
you favour us with a letter from a venerable
clergyman in his eightieth year. He names the
manner in which he spent the twelve first years
of his ministry in studies connected with prepa-
rations for • the pulpit. He adds, that in the
middle periods of his course he had somewhat
remitted those studies; but latterly, on giving a
calm revision of his former compositions, he had
made a discovery—yea, a discovery when full of
wisdom, full of days, and mature in experience,
that the observation of a Christian Sabbath forms
no part of the Christian Scriptures !!!
This letter may, perhaps, strike me more than
another, because I am of the same age with that
venerable man, and have been from youth en-
gaged in the same ministry, and, being favoured
with health, have known no remission of inces-
sant labours. Neither have I changed my
credenda. I think St. Paul, having laid down
the Christian faith in the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, cautions them against
any such change, because the Lord never
changes; Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-
day, and for ever. He glories.to say, in hoary
age, " I have kept the faith."
As to the Christian Sabbath, I am very much
astonished that so venerable a man should not be
able to find it in the New Testament. On the
day of the Saviour's resurrection, we read, John
xx, 19, " At evening, being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst." So
Luke xxiv. The two disciples returning from
Emmaus, found the. Apostles assembled " with
others :" a congregation assembled for devotion.
" After eight days, again his disciples were with-
in, and Thomas was with them; then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the
midst." John xx, 26. The phrase " after eight
days" emphatically designates the Sabbath.
Again : " On the first day of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached unto them." Acts xx., 7. Here is the
Christian Sabbath connected with the regular
worship of the Lord. It is the same Lord who
directed his disciples "to pray, that their flight
(from the Roman armies) might not be. in the
winter; neither on the Sabbath day." It is the
' same Paul that says, " Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy." What more can we ask of
the certainty of a Christian Sabbath in the New
Testament?
As to the manner in which the Christian Sab-
bath was observed, we have brief testimonials in
the first age. St. Ignatius, in his Epistle to
the Magnesians, says-11rari av =MI-t um-Ey
ic?actotwc, &c., &c. ; Ne igitur amplius sccba-
tuna agemus Judaice, &c.; he adds, that the
Christians spent their Sabbath spiritually, in
reading, meditation, and rejoicing—for those who
love Christ love the day of his resurrection;
they love it as the Queen and Princess 'of all
other days—in which Christ, who is our life,
arose victoriously from the dead. Other testi-
monies follow in Justin Martyr's Dialogues with
Trypho, the Jew. Edit. Rob. Steph., p. 38, 39.
They were, like St. John, " In the Spirit on the
Lord's Day."
Our aged clergyman, as it would seem, quotes
Paul against Paul, Col. ii., 16, 17, " Let no man,
therefore, judge you in meat or in drink, or in
respect of a boly.day, or of the new moon, or of
the Sabbath day, which are a shadow of things
to come." Christ having spoiled Principalities
and Powers on the Cross, has superseded the ce-
remonial code. The Christian is no longer under
beggarly elements, many of which were ap-
pended to the Sabbath of the Lord, of which it
is said, "Thou shalt do no manner of work."
The controversy about the Sabbath Day, ever
renewed by a certain class of men, who openly
or secretly deny " the Son of Man to be Lord
of the Sabbath," have all been answered in all
their subtleties and refinements, and in the most
conclusive manner; instead of weeping over our
present desecrations of that holy day, forming an
awful contrast with the manners of the primitive
Christians, in all the profligacy of a London
Sabbath, they apparently exult in that kind of
philosophy which leaves the human-kind in all
the miseries of the Fall. The holy Prophets, fore-
telling the glory of the Christian Sabbath, have
put their seal to the verity and sanctity of that
hallowed day. The moral law of the Sabbath can
no more be abrogated than the precept " Thou
shalt do no murder." The Lord promises the
Eunuch that takes hold of his covenant to keep
his Sabbaths, a name better than that of sons and
daughters. Chap. lvi. This promise comprises
eternal lite. Again : "If thou turn away thy
foot from the Sabbath, not. doing thy pleasure on
my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy of the Lord, honourable and shall
honour him, not doing thy own ways: nor findino-
thy own pleasure, nor speaking thy own words'',
then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord, and
I will cause thee to ride
of
the earth, and feed thee with Chap.
uPoni..e.thletighherpiltaacgees
of.
Jacob thy father."
shall come to pass—from
shall all flesh," theyin., 3. "And it
"come and
worship before me." HGentile
.wolr
one Slabbldathto another
remaineth a rest (a e
Sabbath)b. 1"
7.,
for the people of
God." Heb. •
iv., 9.
Mons. "For there
Neckar, the late.. financirr. of France, on
the importance of religious opinions remarks
it is finpolic
justly, that •
the Sabbath dhave
ay, for they
always been op-
in the poor to work on
pressed ; and if it should happen that the Sab-
bath should be lost, they would then have to
Work as hard seven days in the week as they now
work six, and still remain in the same abject
state of poverty and depression. B ycondysae-
quence, the men that work on the Sabbath
are as much the enemies of other labourers as
those that work for under wages.
J. S.
Bayswater, Dec. 13.

THE COVERING.—We cannot help making a
remark or two on the very superior manner in which the
covering of the area for the Sm;thfield Club Cattle Show
was executed this season. It was more lofty, much better
in the arrangement, and altogether of a more substantial
character, than on former occasions. And it was fortu-
nate it was so, as the weather has been unusually unpro-
pitious, end the ra;n has descended in unrelenting storms.
However, the company and cattle were kept dry. We
find it was erected by Mr. Benjamin Edgington, of 2,
Duke-street, Southwark, and it does him great credit.—
Farmer's Journal, Dec. 13.