,transcribed from the #aheb ,john ,murray edition by ,david ,price ,a ,,few ,,words ,,on ,,the ,,crystal ,,palace ,,question4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,by ,,charles ,,john ,,vaughan1 ,d4,d4 ,,head ,,master ,,of ,,harrow ,,school4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,london3 ,,john ,,murray1 ,,albemarle ,,street2 ,,crossley ,,and ,,clarke1 ,,leicester ,,and ,,harrow3 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,cambridge4 ,,mdccclii4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,printed ,,by ,w4 ,,nicol1 #fj1 ,,pall ,,mall4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,few ,,words ,,on ,,the ,,crystal ,,palace ,,question4 ,no ,clergyman who values his own ease will write on either side of a question connected however remotely with that of ,sunday observance4 ,if he takes the one side1 the world accuses him of bigotry3 if the other1 his brethren stigmatize him as a ,latitudinarian4 ,what is worse1 he runs the risk of either furnishing a handle to the irreligious1 or perplexing and depressing the thoughtful and serious4 ,nor is the danger removed by his occupying a position of the utmost possible moderation1 acknowledging the strength of both sides1 and endeavouring to adjust with all evenness their conflicting claims4 ,the only result is1 that he becomes the prey of both parties3 each holds on its way1 and the voice of candour is silenced by the uproar4 ,yet the truth must be spoken4 ,no personal considerations ought to suppress it4 ,no anxiety for the cause of good can justify a timid compromise with error4 ,it is impossible to reflect without a sense of deep disquiet upon the present position of the ,sunday question in ,england4 ,it is a point on which men's professions are at war with their conduct4 ,it is a point on which traditional ideas are held in forced conjunction with altered practices4 ,it is a point on which ,christian teachers will not speak out4 ,it is a point on which popular prepossessions are accepted as a convenient fact1 even where they are felt to rest on insufficient grounds1 and to lead to a most inadequate result4 ,and what is the consequence8 ,men's consciences are perplexed4 ,they ask--and there is no audible answer--,why do ,i observe the ,sunday8 ,is it on the ground of the ,mosaic commandment8 ,if so1 who has relaxed the strictness of its terms8 ,where is the permission to do1 what we all do1 but what ,israel did not1 on the ,sabbath day8 ,who taught us that in this one instance the ,christian rule of keeping the spirit of ,god's commandments implies the licence to break the letter8 ,questions such as these are left to answer themselves as they can4 ,there remains a large amount of ,sabbatical observance3 but it is associated with no little bondage of spirit in what is done1 and with no little embarrassment of conscience in what is left undone4 ,and where1 meanwhile1 is the ,christian teacher1 wise enough and bold enough to proclaim from his pastoral watch-tower the yoke with which ,christ has bound us1 the liberty wherewith ,he has made us free8 ,where is he who can encounter1 even as ,st4 ,paul encountered it1 the obloquy which assails in every age the exaltation of the everlasting ,gospel1 as1 not the summary merely1 not the expansion merely1 not the interpretation merely1 but the ,,end--in every sense of that term--of every earlier ,dispensation8 who ventures to declare that not the fourth ,commandment only1 but the whole ,decalogue1 has ceased to be1 as such1 the rule of our life8 that1 although ,christians commit neither idolatry nor murder nor perjury1 it is not because ,god forbade these crimes by ,moses1 but because they are contrary to the spirit of ,christ8 that1 in short1 their obedience to the unchangeable precepts of ,god's moral ,law is a homage rendered not to ,sinai but to ,calvary2 so that1 if in any point they find in their own ,gospel a limitation or a modification or an extension of any earlier enactment1 they are conscious of no embarrassment in the regulation of their allegiance--forasmuch as the later is their law1 even as the earlier was that of others8 ,and thus with reference to the observance of the ,sabbath1 and to every point of moral duty1 the appeal lies now1 primarily to the ,scriptures of the ,new ,testament1 and secondarily to any other records which we may possess of the practice of the ,apostolical age4 ,nor can it be pretended1 when the question is fairly examined1 that the perpetuation of the ,jewish ,sabbath is either enjoined1 or by implication encouraged1 in the words or the writings of the first disciples and ,apostles of our ,lord4 ,how shall we account for the total omission1 amidst precepts so multiplied upon every point of ,christian duty1 of all reference to the obligation of the ,sabbatical rest8 ,from whom1 if not from the ,apostles1 could the ,gentile ,christians derive their knowledge of its existence8 ,yet no direction is anywhere to be found for its observance1 nor yet any reproof for the neglect of it4 ,in the only passages in which a clear reference to it occurs in the ,epistles1 the language employed is that either of indifference to its retention1 or even of rebuke for its revival4 ,we do indeed find traces in the ,new ,testament of the existence of another day of weekly observance2 a day on which the disciples came together to break bread2 on which it was natural to collect their offerings2 to which 7before the last of the ,apostles was called to his rest7 was already appropriated the title of the ,lord's ,day4 ,but that this day was neither identical with the ,jewish ,sabbath1 nor substituted for it by any formal act of transfer1 is sufficiently proved by the remarkable circumstance1 that there were in the primitive age ,churches in which both were observed--,saturday in remembrance of the ,mosaic ,sabbath1 ,sunday in commemoration of the ,redeemer's resurrection4 ,by what right shall we assume that1 when the former observance died out1 the latter was invested with its distinctive attributes8 or that1 in congregations where the former had never been practised1 the latter had been1 all along1 synonymous with an institution with which 7to judge from existing records7 they had never been made acquainted8 ,then1 if this be so2 if the ,sabbath is an ordinance of the past2 one of those 8elements or rudiments of the world10 those 8shadows of things to come10 of which 8the substance and the reality is ,christ20 in what sense do we still read in our ,churches the fourth ,commandment1 and pray for grace to incline our hearts to keep it8 ,how low and slavish a spirit is betrayed in this anxiety to have an express law to show for our ,christian ,sunday4 ,how opposite to that which is the distinctive feature of the ,christian character--an earnest desire to catch every intimation1 every indication1 of our ,master's will1 that we may do it not as ,his slaves but as ,his children4 ,enough if we found even a human institution1 which testified throughout ,christendom1 by a speaking sign1 by an act at once self-denying and beneficent1 our faith in realities unseen and future4 ,even this would bind us to its observance4 ,it would be an ordinance of ,god's ,providence for us4 ,it would be our duty to submit to it1 if it were but an ordinance of man1 for the ,lord's sake4 ,and surely it would bear upon its very front the impress of a will more than human3 it would bespeak itself the creation of a ,divine philanthropy4 ,he who should presume to trifle with it--still more1 he who should seek to abrogate or to nullify it for his neighbours or his countrymen--would be seen1 even if this were all1 to be fighting against ,god4 ,but this is not all4 ,we think that we see indications1 from the very earliest days of which the ,scriptures contain the record1 of man's need of a periodical rest1 and of ,god's purpose to secure it to him4 ,we believe that it is essential to the wellbeing of his bodily and mental structure4 ,that it is adapted to the preservation of his health1 to the prolongation of his life1 to the comfort and efficiency of his work1 whether manual or intellectual4 ,that the man who regards every day as equal1 who refuses to observe the day of relaxation1 will work the worse while he does work1 and decay and die the sooner4 ,that the man who rigidly abstains from labour and from excitement during every seventh day1 will be a healthier and a happier man for this intermission1 more serviceable and longer lived4 ,and all this we believe to have been foreseen by man's ,creator1 and provided for by the ,disposer of man's heart4 ,thus far1 however1 we have stopped short of the highest considerations4 ,if no other purpose were answered by the institution of the ,christian ,sunday1 it is undeniable that the nature of the periodical rest might be left wholly to the individual taste and judgment4 ,it would be a matter of indifference--a matter with which conscience would have no right to intermeddle--whether it were to be spent in seclusion or in society1 in worship1 in novel-reading1 or in travelling4 ,but we believe1 further1 that the periodical rest which is essential to the health of man's body and to the vigour of man's intellect1 is yet more so to the wellbeing of his immortal spirit1 to his education for that state in which earthly life issues4 ,surrounded by ten thousand influences drawing his heart downwards and enchaining his interests upon earth1 he needs the opportunity which ,god's ,providence has thus afforded him1 of cultivating the thoughts and practising the habits which alone can survive death and occupy his everlasting energies4 ,without the recurrence1 at brief and regular intervals1 of his day of spiritual improvement1 his soul would be as incompetent to withstand the fascinations of earth1 as his body to endure perpetual exercise1 or his mind incessant application4 ,and when we thus transfer the basis of ,sunday observance from the region of law to that of privilege and blessing2 when we accept as ,god's gift to us1 for certain high and beneficent purposes1 what once perhaps we regarded as a badge of subjection and servitude2 how simple1 comparatively1 becomes every question which can affect its observance--how easy the statement1 in words at least1 of the principle which should guide our use of it4 ,the question now is1 not1 ,what is it lawful1 what is it wrong1 to do on the ,sunday8 how can ,i so employ it as to avoid breaking ,god's ,law and incurring ,god's displeasure8 but rather1 ,how can ,i derive from it all possible good8 how can ,i turn to the best account1 for myself and others1 in soul and body1 the blessing which ,god has thus conferred upon me8 ,and shall those who look back through long years upon their frequent failures to improve this blessing1 see no reason for the confession which bewails their past neglect of it1 and the prayer which asks help to honour it hereafter8 ,whatever tends to refresh the mind and body without the stimulus of an undue excitement1 will be1 in itself1 a desirable occupation for the ,christian ,sunday4 ,but1 if this relaxation of the body and mind be attended with no corresponding benefit to the soul2 still more1 if it involve an excitement unfavourable to the remembrance of ,god1 so that1 at the end of the day1 ,heaven shall be more distant than at its beginning2 then that relaxation has been of a mistaken and injurious kind2 the purposes of the institution have been this day rather defeated than answered2 it is not so much that we have broken a law1 as that we have missed a blessing2 we have been unthankful for a great privilege1 we have thrown away a great opportunity of good4 ,all this is plain enough as respects an individual3 few will gainsay its truth4 ,but we are now concerned rather with the national observance of the ,sunday4 ,how are we to apply these principles to the case of others8 more especially1 if the question be one of government1 of legislation8 ,let us1 in the first place1 take clearly into view what can1 and what cannot1 be done by legislation on such a subject4 ,it is quite idle to suppose that a ,christian use of the ,sunday can ever be secured by authoritative enactment4 ,we cannot1 by all the legislation in the world1 augment by one the number of the worshippers in our ,churches2 we cannot open one ,bible1 we cannot elicit one prayer1 we cannot awaken in one heart the feelings of faith or hope or love4 ,the observance of the ,sunday1 as it rests not on law as its basis1 so neither can it rest on legislation for its enforcement4 ,what then can be done8 ,legislation can protect the observance of the day4 ,it cannot prevent him who will from desecrating it1 in his heart1 in his house1 in thought1 word1 or act4 ,but it can limit the operation of this desecration upon others4 ,it can refuse to him the absolute command of the services of others in effecting this desecration4 ,it can coerce within somewhat narrow bounds his power to keep others waiting upon his amusements to the loss of the privileges of the day for themselves4 ,it can say1 ,such and such places shall be inaccessible on that day2 such and such means of conveyance withdrawn2 such and such servants of the ,public excused from their attendance4 ,and1 besides its protective power1 legislation has also a strong negative operation4 ,there are barriers which can only be removed by its assistance4 ,at all events1 its interposition may at any moment be invoked to stop such a removal4 ,it may impede the extension of ,sunday travelling3 it may refuse its licence to the multiplication of ,sunday amusement3 it may refrain from sanctioning the creation of those haunts and rendezvous of public attraction which make just the difference oftentimes between neglect and contempt1 between disregard and defiance1 between indifference and desecration4 ,it is one thing to know that a multitude of individuals1 however numerous1 fail to honour the day2 another1 to parade before the eyes of the world the legalization of that failure4 ,in what manner then do these remarks bear upon the particular subject now before us2 the design 7as it is commonly understood7 of opening to the ,public during certain hours of the ,sunday some portions of the ,crystal ,palace8 ,i have no sympathy with an outcry founded in whole or in part upon what appears to me to be an untenable notion of the nature of our ,christian ,sunday4 ,and ,i confess that ,i could forgive a ,statesman who should receive on the present occasion with deep suspicion the remonstrances of men who but three years ago fostered and aggravated the same outcry on a plea which the slightest examination would have shown to be fallacious4 ,those who have lent themselves in former instances to swell the chorus of an ignorant and fanatical clamour1 have no claim to attention now but that with which the actual merits of their case may furnish them4 ,but the two occasions are1 as ,i believe1 widely different4 ,the contrast is unimportant3 ,i will come at once to the present4 ,and let me admit1 once for all1 that it is with things as they are that we have to do2 not with things as they might exist in a totally opposite condition4 ,we must take the state of the poor man as it is1 and the state of ,sunday observance as it is4 ,we might wish indeed that both were widely different4 ,we might form to ourselves the picture of a poor man's ,sunday1 such as in rare instances we have seen it3 the clean though humble dwelling1 the early prayer of the household1 the open ,bible1 the walk to ,church1 the one comfortable meal of the week1 the holy and loving converse of the evening1 the prayer and the blessing with which the day ended as it began4 ,and we might say1 and say with truth1 that1 for a family thus resting in holy union throughout its weekly festival of ,christian devotion and thankfulness1 no change could come that were not for the worse4 ,no want is here felt of anything which ,god has not given3 enough for that happy home is the change which ,sunday has brought with it over the aspect of every familiar object2 the rest from labour1 enjoyed with those dearest on earth1 in the remembrance of ,one loved above all--this is all that they ask--more would destroy it4 ,but this1 alas6 is a spectacle as rare as it is beautiful3 we may wish for a theoretical good1 but we must choose the practical4 ,next below the case just pictured1 stands that of him whose piety perhaps is less fervent1 his desire for relaxation less easily satisfied1 and who1 thirsting for one glimpse of nature1 one breath of ,god's air1 one ray of ,god's sunshine1 must seek them where they can be found1 must travel1 in short1 in quest of them4 ,shall we pass upon this man a sentence of harsh1 of unqualified1 censure8 ,shall we say that he who carries with him on the ,sunday his wife and his children to some quiet country spot where he may shake off the distractions of business1 refresh himself with the sights and sounds of freedom1 and pray with his family in a ,church less dark and less dank than he could find in the neighbourhood of his dwelling--shall we say that this man breaks ,god's ,law1 and does despite to ,his holy day8 ,let others record this sentence--,i dare not4 ,but this ,i would say--that a freedom which he takes ought not to be made a yoke of bondage to another2 that this liberty of his1 so refreshing 7if it be enjoyed in a ,christian spirit7 to soul and body1 must be purchased for him at as small a cost as possible of ,sunday toil on the part of others3 let not the necessity which he feels1 for entire relaxation on his day of rest1 entail upon the servants of the ,public a burdensome load of labour on a day of which they perhaps equally need the enjoyment3 let the protective hand of legislation1 if it be necessary1 be interposed to regulate the hours and the method of his coming and going1 that others may rest as well as he4 ,and1 further1 ,i would urge that it is essential to the beneficial effects of this indulgence1 that it should be enjoyed1 as far as may be1 in tranquillity and retirement2 that it is one thing to travel on the ,sunday to a country village1 and another to be immersed in the bustle and excitement of a crowded fair2 that that quietness of mind and feeling1 which is one of the main blessings of a ,christian ,sunday1 is necessarily impaired if the scene of relaxation be a focus of popular attraction1 involving the visitor1 without the possibility of escape1 in the noise and the glare of a tumultuous assembly4 ,nor1 once more1 could ,i regard as a matter of indifference the authoritative bisection of the ,sunday into a morning of worship and an afternoon of pleasure4 ,whatever be the character of the day1 it is one1 not twofold4 ,it is indeed one of the chief duties--perhaps the chief ostensible duty--of the day1 to attend its public services1 but we have no warrant for representing its character as changed when the first or even the second of those services is ended3 whatever it be--whether a day of devotion1 or a day of inaction1 or a day of amusement--that it is throughout3 and1 however little it may be designed1 the effect of the proposed distinction would assuredly be1 not so much to increase the sanctity of the morning as to destroy that of the evening4 ,henceforth the claims of evening worship1--and still more the claims of the whole day upon a thoughtful and serious spirit1--would be materially disparaged3 so far as the effects of this measure extend1 they will cause the day to close at noon3 and what will it be thenceforth to those countless thousands of our countrymen who are debarred by absolute necessity from attending the service of the morning8 ,i know it may be urged that such arguments presuppose the existence of a very different state of ,sunday observance from the present2 that the question really lies not between the ,crystal ,palace and the ,church1 but between the ,crystal ,palace and the street or the gin-shop4 ,i believe1 however1 that no gallery of painting or of sculpture will have any abiding attractions for the class thus described3 tastes so brutish will not be transformed by any such expedient3 they will remain what they are1 until a mightier engine shall bear upon them3 no display of art will allure them to civilization4 ,the class really affected by the change proposed will be that already described2 neither the highest of all1 nor the very lowest4 ,those who now travel on the ,sunday in a desultory manner will then be found congregated in large numbers upon a single point3 and the alteration1 so far as it extends1 will be for the worse4 ,it remains only to assert with all earnestness the importance of the contemplated innovation4 ,it is the first step in a course which lies already as in a map before us4 ,the opening of one such building is virtually the opening of all4 ,the demand for this extension may be gradual2 but1 whenever and wherever made1 it must be granted4 ,at all events1 the principle is gone4 ,england becomes like other nations4 ,that great spectacle of reverence for ,god which was afforded last year in the face of assembled ,europe can be presented no more4 ,the very building which bore so noble a testimony is itself a year later to utter a different language4 ,yet where1 practically1 is the distinction between the two cases8 ,what ,sunday was1 ,sunday is4 ,if it was an act of becoming reverence to close the ,great ,exhibition on that day1 how is it that what was religion then is superstition now8 ,assuredly the effects1 for good or evil1 of such a proceeding will not be less striking or less extensive now than then3 then too they would have been temporary1 now they will be permanent4 ,if there be yet time to pause--and there is time1 for ,parliament1 at all events1 has not yet spoken--may it be seized and used4 ,it is one thing for an individual1 or a host of individuals1 to disregard or to abuse their day of rest3 it is another thing for the nation to interpose to sanction that neglect1 and thus to fling away by her own act a badge which1 once lost1 can never be resumed4 ,,harrow1 ,november #b1 #aheb4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the following ,address will be found to comprise the main topics above insisted upon4 ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,honourable ,,the ,,earl ,,of ,,derby1 c4 c4 c4 8,,my ,,lord1 8,we the undersigned venture to express to your ,lordship with all deference the regret with which we have heard of an intention to open to the ,public on the ,sunday 7with some limitations7 the new ,crystal ,palace at ,sydenham4 8,we deem it unnecessary for our present purpose to enter into any discussion of the general question of ,sunday observance4 8,we are far from desiring to see such an observance of the day as would rob it of any portion of its character as a day of refreshment and of ,christian commemoration4 8,we can sympathize to the full in the hard lot of those whose whole week is spent in confinement and toil1 and to whom ,sunday alone brings the opportunity of seeing the light or breathing the air of freedom4 8,but we value above all price that national recognition of the existence of ,god1 and of the blessings of ,christianity1 which has been made for so many ages by this country in its maintenance of the observance of our weekly day of rest4 8,we should lament the sanction1 by a ,royal ,charter1 of a departure from the principle of this observance4 8,we consider the concentration of ,sunday travelling upon a single focus of attraction1 to be a far greater evil than the more desultory pursuit of health and relaxation at present practised by the lower orders on that day4 8,and we should feel that the noble example of national regard for the ,sunday1 displayed last year before the eyes of ,europe in the closing of the ,great ,exhibition on that day1 was ill followed up by giving a public sanction to an opposite practice in the case of a building which professes to be intended to perpetuate the same magnificent design4 8,for these reasons1 we beg leave most respectfully to express our hope that the power now entrusted to the hands of your ,lordship may not be employed in the accomplishment of a project which we believe in our hearts to be unfavourable to the ,christian character of the nation4 8,we have the honour to be10 c4 c4 c4 99 99 99 99 99 ,by the same ,author4 ,,two ,,letters ,,on ,,the ,,late ,,post ,,office ,,agitation1 #ahdi ,,and #ahej4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,john ,,murray1 ,,albemarle ,,street4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,w4 ,,nicol41 ,,shakspeare ,,press1 ,,pall ,,mall4