The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-20 00:00:00

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.

The following has been addressed to the Directors of Corn.
panics, whose regulations infringe on the rest of the Sab.
bath, and the edi►or of the STANDARD is requested to give ii
a place in his columns :

Liverpool, Nov. 16th, 1838.
We, the undersigned, painfully convinced of the growing
contempt fur the authority of God, exhibited in the desecra-
tion of the Lord's day, feel it an imperative duty to make a
public protest against certain proceedings with which this
town is connected.

No country has been blessed with more eminent prosperity
than England, and no town in England has had a larger
share of prosperity than Liverpool; the greater, therefore,
are our obligations to the Giver of all goodness, the heavier
are our responsibilities for the improvement of these advan-
tages, and if under such obligations and resFonsibilities we
should shrink from raising our testimony against proceed-
ings which insult the Majesty of Heaven and disgrace the
morality of a Christian land, we should be careless of our
country's welfare, as well as false to that Saviour whose
name, as Christians, we profess to bear.
It has pleased God, who so loved the world that lie gave
Ilis only begotten Son to die for our sins, to command that
one day in seven shall he set apart, in order that man may
both rest from bodily labour, and also give his mind in au
especial manner to the worship and service of God and the
concerns of his eternal peace. The Sabbath, therefore, is an
appointment of Divine love and benevolence, but it is like-
wise a command. Not less in Sovereign Majesty than in
tender love, God has expressely commanded—`' The seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy
man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine
ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates ; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest
as well as than."—Deut. v. 14. Wherefore it is not depen-
dant on individual inclination or convenience whether we
accept or decline the proffered boon of a day of rest; the
honour of the Divine Lawgiver is involved, so that if the
Sabbath be not received as a blessing, it must be observed as
a command, and it is at the peril of doing dishonour to the
Lord, and bringing condemnation on his own soul, that any
one dares to nullify this divine appointment.
ViewA in this light, the deliberate profanation of the Sab-
bath becomes a direct insult on our God and Saviour. It is,
moreover, a fearful criterion of alienation of heart and re-
bellion against God, inasmuch as this observance has been
declared to be an evidence ansi proof of allegiance to God :
—" I gave them my Sabbath to be a sign between the and
them, that they might know that-I am the Lord that sanctify
them."—Ezek. xx. 12.

If such be the case under any circumstances,what an alarm-
ing aspect does the desecration of the Sabbath assume, when
it emanates not from the private and personal agency of indi-
viduals, but from the combined operation of public and asso-
ciated bodies; the guilt then acquires a national character,
indicates a national defiance of the Most High; and it be.
comes the ministers of a national church to stand forward and
resist its desolating progress.
We do not deny that in some respects the observance of
the Lord's-day by individuals has improved of late years—
but late years have seen the contrary evil exhibit the charac-
ter of a more determined defiance of God than has been dis-
played in individual transgression. «e speak of the open,
deliberate, and systematic violation of the day of God by
public bodies, associated for combined exertion and mutual
co-operation in matters of commerce. It is the avowed, de-
termined, regularly appointed desecration of the Lord's-day
by the estahlshed regulations of the ltailaav, Steam-packet,
and other companies in this town, that calls orth the present
protest : and we exhort the parties implicated to reflect, that
whatever influence they hold in their private and personal
relationals, whatever weight they possess (rein individual
character, as well as whatever importance they have acquired
by combined commercial co-operation, these are all employed
in giving sanction to an open and deliberate violation of the
lay of God.

Recent occurrences furnish but too painful an indication
of the progress of evil complained of. We allude (and we
do so with feelings of the strongest and most decided animad-
version) first to the public profanation of the Sabbath, when
not long since an Ambassador from the French Court visited
this place. On that occasion a Government vessel was
officially provided for a Sabbath day's excursion, and a rail-
road train extraordinary kept in waiting for the convenience
of the party. to the still further desecration of the Lord's-
day; and, secondly, to the proceedings which took place on
board the " Liverpool" steam-packet, during its late experi-
mental trip to Dublin—proceedings which can be designated
by no milder term than a reproach to a Christian community.
The collecting • crowd on the Sabbath by posting bills, the
public exhibition of the vessel by the sale of admission tickets,
the public dinner and consequent excitement so repugnant
to the sanctity of the holy day, not to mention the vessel's
departure on her way home—all these proceedings on the
Sabbath are so offensive to all Christian feeling and so utterly
at variance with the commands of God, that we feel bound to
protest against them in the most absolute and unqualified
Maaller.

The plea upon which the deliberate and habitual violation
of the Sabbath by public companies is defended, is, that
commercial expediency and the convenience of the public render
the regulations complained of absolutely necessary. This,
though the most specious, is in truth the most untenable
ground upon which the matter can be placed—for it is as
much as to maintain that because the public determine to
oppose God's command, by pursuing their business or their
pleasure beyond the limits which lle has wisely assigned,
therefore we are not merely justifiedin sanctioning, but a►e
posit ively under an obligation to expedite their unlawful
traffic or amusement. But can the convenience of the crea-
ture for a moment stand in competition ►with the command of
the Creator? can any possible amount of commercial expe-
diency justify a deliberate violation of the laws of the liv►ng
God? or, are the interests of this life to supersede the glory
of the Divine Redeemer and wan'►s everlasting interests in
the life to come?

That there is guilt very heavy guilt, is 'but too palpable,
nor does the sanction of a company lessen the amount of lia-
bility resting upon the individuals concerned. The collective
agency of an associate body does not in any measure dimin-
ish individual responsibility; '' Every one of us shall give
account of himself to God." Neither let it be forgotten that
besides individual, there is a national guilt attaching to these
practises, whereby the long-suffering of God is provoked, and
the judginents of his severe displeasure called down upon
our land; "My Sabbaths they greatly polluted, then 1 said I
would pool out nly fury upon them in the wilderness to con-
sume them."—Ezek. xx. 13.
We, therefore, as clergymen of the Church of Eng-
land, and ministers of that Gospel which secures "glory
to Go•l in the highest, and on earth peace, good will,
towards men," protest, most unequivocally, against the
past proceedings, and the existing regulations of public
companies, whereby dishonour is done to the glory of
God, interruption is occasioned to the peace of the Sab-
bath, and hindrance offered to the salvation of men ;
and most earnestly entreat that measures may be imme-
diately and effectually devised to put a stop to practices
so absolutely indefensible in their own character, so dis-
honourable to the professing Christians of our country,
and so full of unspeakable peril to the souls of all by
whom they are now patronised and continued.
T. TYFFERSLIALL, D.D.

Minister of St. Augustine's Everton.
HUGH MeN El LE, M.A.
Minister of St. Jude's Church.
It. P. BIIDDICOM, M.A.
Minister of St. George's, Everton.
FREDERICK BARKER, B.A.
Incumbent of St. Mary's, Edge Hill.
W. MAYNARD, B.A.
Minister of the Mariner's Church.
FIELDING OULD, B.A.
Minister of Christ Church.
CHARLES W. LAWRENCE.
Chaplain of St. Luke's Church.
HENRY CARPENTER, B.A.
Minister of St. Michael's Church.
ROBERT DAVIES, M.A.
Minister of St. David's Church.
JOHN ELLISON BATES, M.A.
Assistant Minister of St. Bride's.
RICHARD DAVIES, M.A.
Curate of St. David's.
DAVID JAMES,
.Minister of St. Mary's, Kirkdale.
ANDREW KNOX,
Perpetual Citrate of St. Mary's, Birkenhead, Cheshire.
WILLIAM J. PURDON,
Incumbent of St. Anne's, Aigburth.
PRINCE CRAWFORD, M.A.
Curate of St. Mark's.
J. B. CONNOR. M.A.
Curate of Christ Church, & Chaplain to Lord, DOwnes.
H. S. JOSEPH,
Chaplain of the Workhouse.
JAMES KELLY, M.A.
Minister of St. Si non's.
A. McCONKEY, ALA
Minister of All Saints.
THOMAS BYRTE-1,
Rector of Wallasey.

DUTIES ON WEST INDIA SUGARS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST.4NI4RD.

Ste,—As probably you may be aware the additional duty
imposed upon West India sugars during the war, and thence
called the ("war duty,") which was to have been withdrawn
41 peace, has certainly thereto continued up to the present
time, and with which the West India planter has had to strug-
R;e during many years of the agitation for negro emanripation,
and at the same time to labour. under the disadvantegeof
ether nations illicitly carrying on the slave trade, after E•rig-
,lod had abolished •it•in all her dependencies; these,it may
he conceived, were grievartees" of- considerable magnitUde—_
8,!9l the planter has been doomed to suffer aggravated hard-
',Nit and may with truth add manifest injury by the unpin-
c'Pled agitation, which has had the effect of frustrating the
Prospective arrangements on his estate, kind robbing hint, On
the Ist of August last, of what he was legally entitled to by
4't of parliament uetil 1840. Though he were patiently to
ei_4dure the wrong, and bear up against these multiplied hard-
A''Pa, are the legislature and executive less culpable, in
l'ilhholding timely and commensurate redress. It does ap-
Peer tome, that the planter is most reasonably entitled to an
thlrnediate an amle redction o duty and whout wich
I rear there is d littlep chanceu fur the West, India planterh con-
,
oing his cultivation at the rate of wages as the late ap-
Fre •
thatolices are demanding. It is alsoof the utmost importance
government should relieve the refiners from the suspense
olts latent intention, relative to the drawback, which oper-
tes most injuriously, by restricting and limiting the refiner
the bounds of the hurtful caution it imposes, and tends
41; Place the refitting trade in the hands of foreiguers; and
1,80 Prevents refining sugars finding their adequate value in
h"e market, and that too at the time the West India planters
"'NI the utmost returns.
NI ant informed, sir, that there is an association of West India
°Prieters in Liverpool; if so, I think they will deem it ex-
"rent to call a public meeting to consider and resolve
tin a memorial to government to reduce the duty on sugar
lirti',„ G, at all events to the extent of the addition imposed in
war—and it would be advisable to petition at the same
e for a mail steamer to be stationed at New York, in con-
frl"ion with those from England, to convey letters to and
cant the West Indies in the least possible time. Such a
fr,'eYance, even were it for government despatches atone,
those islands, must he of the utmost importance at this
ie4iettire: when the successful transition to freedom must
ke,4lY depend upon the energy and promptitude of the home
ee,,erOrnent in applying all requisite incentives thereto. If
tiq,erntnent be able to contract with private individuals for
tetlance, all well, but no delay should be suffered in ac-
i;l'llshing this desirable object.
41% Ilas often occurred to me with what great advantage
Ittitte of our convicts (a limited number) might have been
re4ut to the \Vest Indies, especially Jamaica, to make good
tssdrain all the marshy grounds—and open the dense
,t1(1 ,",s of
iforests; where unhealthy vapours are generat,d-
441,sis n time, make Jamaica, and the other islands, as
t"rt"Y as any part of the world. I shall be glad, if by in-
eet' of this fetter vou succeed in drawing the attention
' Darties interesitid to this matter.
A WEST INDIA PLANTEN.

TIIE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL

sTANDARD.

Ti4zrA, the Iwo men,
wnahicmhed in Ihe statement, entlilled
;a 4.1" rly Conduct," appeared in the Liverpool
i TuPsdam y last, have been by some person. supposed
tg4t- they
of the above society. on account of their saying
Itnr, 'eY were employed by a "society whose object was
Rzeu~trss vice, and reclaim females of bad, character,"
1),.Y the way, I apprehend, was merely a:suineil as an
y„,."ir being found in such disgraceful circumstances;
't !Ur therefore, kindly permit ine, through the medium of
Crt ,i,!..Per, to state, that-those disorderly men neither are, i
re-
"; connected with the " Liverpool Society fur

claiming Unfortunate Females," the management of which,
the public are aware, is conducted by persons whose respect-
ability and discretion would not allow such characters to be
engaged, although, as is the case, the meritorious, praise-
worthy, and laborious agents ore grainitoux? The society,
which has only been about eight months organized, has
effected much real good; its simple, but very impressive
plans of treatment have, so far, been remarkably successful.
And it has nut failed to obtain the approbation and support
of every person who has investigated its operations, and wit-
nessed the happy effects produced in the minds and charac-
ters of those who have been induced to submit themselVes to
its salutary influence. Already sixty-three females have
been taken, by this society, "off the streets"—whilst a vast
number, besides, have been faithfully warned and expostu-
lated with in their nocturnal walks, and, doubtless, with con-
siderable effect; and others, who have been in the society's
lodgings, and have only borne the discipline for a few days,
will have left with impressions on their minds not-to be easily
defaced. Of the sixty-three reclaimed, nine have been hap-
pily restored to their friends; ten are earning a creditable
livelihood for themselves; sixteen are at service, giving gra-
tifying satisfaction in their places; two have died sincere
penitents; twenty-three are, at present, in the society's
lodgings, and three have been placed in the hospital: and
this very gratifying result will doubtless increase in the pro-
portio❑ of the continued support given to the society, by a
generous, Sympathising, and public-spirited community.
I ant,
JOS. BANNING,
Assistant Sec. to the Society.
Liverpool, Nov. 16, 1838.

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION

LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY.

On Wednesday evening Mr. John Wallis delivered his
seventh lecture.

It may seem strange to those not accustomed to these sort
of investigations to comprehend how we arrive at the quan-
tity: of matter contained in the sun, but the process is very
simple. The fall of a body towards the earth is the measure
of its gravity, and the defiectionlif the moon from the tan-
gents of the earth is the amount of gravitation which the
earth exercises upon the moon, at that distance. By this
means we can weigh the sun against the earth, and tell how
much more material there is in the sun than in the earth. We
find that if in one second of time the moon by the earth's at-
traction is deflected to the amount of one the earth in the
same time is deflected by the sun, 2,200. Now, as the sun
is 400 times the distance of the moon, it will attract as though
it were made of material as other bodies, but the diminution
of its attraction will be as the square of that number. We
therefore multiply 400 by 400, which gives us 160,000, and
this being again multiplied by 2,209, the amount of the earth's
deflection when compared with the moon, we get 355,000 as
the mass of the sun. By these means we find that the den-
sity of the sun on the average, is no more than the density of
water. In the same manner we can obtain the mass of all
the planets which are attended by satellites.
Parallax has supplied us with a means of determining the
distance of the sun and moon, and, of course. curiosity very
soon asked men whether it would not be possible to determine
the distance of the other celestial bodies, namely, the stars.
But we find that our baseline of 8,000 miles is of no use what-
ever in determining the distance of these fixed stars, and ac-
cordingly we do not know the distance of any of these stalls.
This was urged as a superlative objection to the Coperstican
system, because if it was true we could snake use of the whole
diameter of the orbit of the earth as a base line to determine
the distance of these stars, as it would subtend an angle of 17
seconds of the distance of the sun, and yet we find that a di-
ameter of 190 millions of miles subtends no angle at all in re-
ference to the fixed stars. They consequently have no pa-
rallax. If any fixed star subtended an angle of a second,
(and it does not) such star would be 180,000 times the dis-
tance of the sun from the earth. Now, light moves at the
rate of 192 thousand of miles in a second of time, therefore a
ray of light would be three years and 17 days in proceeding
from one of these fixed stars to the earth: We are acquainted
with many millions of stars fixed; and they cannot all be at the
same diatance from us. We are not aware that any stars are
nearer us than the rest, but Dr. Bradley, in conjunction with
Mr. Molyneux, endeavoured to set the question at rest with
respect to the Copernican hypothesis, and to discover a pa-
rallax in the fixed stars. Dr. Bradley saw that these obser-
vations should he made upon stars n hich go but a very little
distance from the zenith. He had two reasons fur this, that
if there was an annual parallax, lie would be neater their
plane, and he would not be troubled by the refraction of the
atmosphere. Mr. Molyueux reisded at Kew, near London.
Dr. Bradley was engaged on a visit to Mr. Molyneux, and
joined him in making these observations. They observed
some stars in Draco, and after a few nights thought, they
perceived that the star did not pass at the same point in the
zenith, as it did when they first began to observe it. At first
they attributed this circumstance to some-errors of the instru-
ment, but after allowing for all errors, they found a
continual motion in the passage of the star across the
zenith. But it happened in a direction contrary to what it
ought to have been, if the star had been subject to annual
parallax. Observing these stars, therefore, in the course of
three months they thought that they found that the star had
mane a quarter of a circle; and carrying on their observations
for some time they found that in six months the star had ap-
peared to describe a semicircle. Dr. Bradley had left Mr.
Molyneux, but his curiosity was so much excited that he had
a zenith sector constructed with great care, and after carrs-
ing on his observations, found that those stars near the pole
of the ecliptic which he had been observing, described a
small circle of about 20 seconds radius in the course of a year,
and returned to the same position as when first observed.
Now here was an observed motion. It wal not in the direc-
tion of an annual parallax, but here you will see to what an
unexpected result the sagacity of Dr. Bradley led, namely,
more complete confirmation of motion of the earth in its orbit,
than if he had found the stellar parallax. Dr. Bradley calls
this the aberration of light We know that if we were to di-
rect a telescope towards any object, and we were motionless,
we should see it as it is, but if the telescope were itself moving
we should no longer see the object where it is. Supposing,
for instance, a sportsman to see a bird perched above him
upon a tree, if he aitn directly at the bird he will hit it, but
it' the bird Ire upon the wing he must aips where the bird is
not, in order that when the bird gets there he may hit it.
The sante will hold true with anything, when the light is
passing over any space and we ourselves are moving. We
observe that light moves with ten limes the rapidity of the
earth in its orbit. This was discovered by Reaumur, by the
occultation of the Satellites of Jupiter. Let the velocity of
light he what it will, it is an absurdity to suppose that .any
body can pass over any space in no time. We therefore get
in this circumstance a proof of the annual motion of the earth
round the sun, w his is, in fact, the only as it is the most con-
clusive one which ire possess; conclusive, because every star
in the universe supplies us with a distinct and unique confir-
mation of the same fact. Light occupies 81 minutes in pass-
ing from the sun to our eyes, therefore if the sun were blotted
out, or concealed by anything at. its surface, we should see
the sun shimming 81 minutes afterwards. But if the sun were
rekindled we should not see it again fur 81 minutes. But if
a fixed star were annihilated it would still continue shining
for 3 years and 17 days afterwards, so that upon looking at
the universe around us we are not sure that it exists or not.
The fixed stars become most important to the practical astro-
nomer, and it is fortunate that they have not annual parallax.
They serve, therefore, (as they seem to retain their relative
places among themselves,) as a reference in the artificial di-
vision of the celestial globe, by great circles. A very simple
mode of computing longitude at sea is by observing the oc-
cultation of Jupiter's Satellites. Mr. Wallis concluded by
explaining the cause of the phenomena called the harvest
moon, which he said was merely occasioned by time mines
positton in the ecliptic, and not by any extraordinary move-
ment in the moon herself.

On Wednesday evening, Mr. II 4don delivers his first
Lecture upon painting.