THE CANTERBURY SUNDAY OBSERVANCE LEAGUE.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 72, 24 August 1874, Page 4

THE CANTERBURY SUNDAY OBSERVANCE LEAGUE.

The inaugural address of the Canterbury Sunday League, was delivered iu the schoolroom of St Andrew's Church on the evening of Friday, the 14th August, by J. H. Twentyman, Esq., the President of the League. The chairman (J. Anderson, Esq), briefly introduced the lecturer, who spoke as follows :

Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen—My first word is one of apology. I wish that the duty of delivering the inaugural address had been entrusted to abler hands. Highly as I value the privileges ot the Sabbath, I confess I have not studied, the polemics of the subject, as I should like to have done. I do not object to be placed in the front of the battle, but I fear from my insufficient acquaintance with the Sunday question, lest from the weakness of my remarks I should injure tho cause. I must therefore ask you to bear with me. NO IMPUTATION OP MOTIVES. My theme is, " The present aspect of the Sunday question in Canterbury." however, proceeding to its consideration, I wish it to be understood that we have no quarrel with persons. We have no desire to impute motives. I believe there arc some who wish the barriers of religion broken down ; yet we have no reason to suppose that all who differ from us wish this. We give them credit for the same candour, and desire for the welfare of the people that we claim for ourselves. Still we believe them to be mistaken ; we believe them to have quite misunderstood the subject ; that the tendency of their action is to break down the barriers of religion. Believing this, we are anxious to have the question discussed. We aim at creating an enlightened public opinion. We seek by the weapons of moral suasion to win to our side not only the indifferent but even the hostile. And in this direction we mean to labor, not merely to stem the present tide, but to regain the ground which we have lost. ORIGIN OP THE PRESENT TENDENCY TOWARDS RELAXING THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE LOKD'S DAY. The roots from which present tendencies spring may, I think, be concluded under four heads. There is first a spurious liberalism. The present generation has thrown off many restraints which were found to be needless and irksome; and because some restraints may be so described, it is hastily concluded that all restrictions fall under the same category. Because the river's flow is impeded by some artificial dams which had better be swept away ; therefore, it is rashly concluded we must throw down the banks. It is as if the school boy, finding that his kite flies higher because the string is lengthened, should conclude that it would fly higher still if the string were altogether cut. This is not liberty, but license, and license which would soon rebuke itself. Again, there is an universal desire for the spread of education. This question has deservedly won its way to a sense of its true importance. Since political freedom is our birthright, the necessity is ; urgent that men should be educated to exercise it aright. If men are to understand and fulfil the duties and privileges of citizenship they must be taught ; and whatever tends to' enlarge the mind and widen the field of mental vision helps to furnish us better for the work of the world; Now, many candid persons have advocated the opening of museums and such places with a view to this. Such advocates certainly strangely forget that this is an advantage enjoyul by the multitudes of the Continent of Furopo ; and let them tell us with what result? Again, the many ameliorations that recent years have witnessed in the condition of the masses, such as shorter hours of labor, larger wages, an increase of political liberty, have given rise to a taste for pleasures and amusement, that seeks gratification on every available occasion. Let it be understood that I do not grudge this improvement in the condition of the people ; on the contrary, I rejoice in it. My desire would not be to curtail it, even if it were put to a bad use. 1 would rather seek to extend the blessing and to cultivate a right use of it. Yet again, there are some in every commnnity, in this as in every other, disbelievers in all religion, some secretly and some openly. They regard it as a stupid superstition, and would be glad to contribute to its downfall. I do not think, however, that in the exercise of christian charity, we are justified in attributing this as a motive to anyone opposed to us, unleßs their language or their action clearly avow it. But it is useless to shut our eyes to the fact that persons of this way of thinking do exist among us, and it behoves us to weigh carefully the arguments advanced against Sabbath observance that we may detect and expose this not very frequently avowed Durpose. It seems then to me, that these four causes —a spurious liberalism, a desire at all hazards for the spread of education, a love of pleasure, and a hatred of religion, are at the bottom of these frequent attempts to destroy the sanctity of the Sabbath. THE SABBATH ARGUMENT. Here it will be well to pass in review, a few of the facts connected with the institution of the Sabbath. I would remiud you that the words of the fourth commandment clearly se-t forth a distinct purpose for its institution. It is a memorial of the creation. Let us remember that when we recognise creation, we recognise the God of creation. And if we acknowledge the God of creation, we are then brought face to face with the duties we owe lo him. One other fact plainly indicated in U ut v., 16, was that the Sabbath was a symbol of redemption. They were called upon to reverence God's holy day as a memorial of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. But the establishment of the seventh day rest dates further back still, even from the creation itself.—Gen. ii., 2, 3. We find it stated that God rested on the seventh day, and blessed and sanctified it. Now, we can only understand the word Banctified to mean in this connection, set it apart. Again we find it recorded—Gen. iv., 3—that "in process of time," it came to pass that Cain and Abel offered sacrifices unto the Lord ; but in the margin you will find this expression rendered " at the end of days ;" an indication of the existence of a set time for worship, and as no other time was sanctified, we may conclude we have here an intimation of tho Sabbath. In like manner, Noah is said twice to have rested seven days—Gen. viii., 10, 12. We find again, in the story of Jacob's courtship, that the division of time into week. 3, was a recognised institution. Whence this division of time if the Sabbath were not an established and sanctioned custom—Gen. xxix.,27. Once more, before the law was givt.-u, vvheu the Israelites were passing through the

desert, they were forbidden to gather manna on a Sabbath Exodus xvi. This is plainly a proof of the existence of the seventh day rest before the giving of the law on Sinai. Finally, the commandment begins—- ,; Remember the Sabbath-Day to keep it holy"—points back to a previous and wellknown institution which now received a fresh sanction. THE DESIGN OP THE SABBATH UNDER THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. It is easy to trace the purpose served by the Sabbath law under the old dispensation. First of all, it was ordained ;i3 a season of rest. It was a stated period of rest, not only for the rich but for the poor—for those who served in the house and in the field, the servant and the slave —even for the beast of burden. In this light the law is beneficent in the highest degree. It was, in the second place, a memorial of God, the Creator and Deliverer. In the third place, it afforded a set time fnr worship and instruction. And in the fourth place, it provided a break in the current of man's worldly engagements. So important a place did this institution occupy, that it was hedged about with special sanctions. The punishment of death was the penalty attached to its violation —a penalty which belonged to no merely ceremonial or positive law. Special promises were moreover made to the nation or individual who should conscientiously keep it. It had therefore a most prominent place, and an unusual sanctity. There can be no question then of its binding character upon the Jews. BINDING UPON US. Rut is it binding upon us? We answer, yes ; for the Fourth Commandant is one of the commands of the moral law. It is there in the heart of the Decalogue. Again, this law so solemnly promulgated has never been repealed. There are two passages that seem to do so, Rom. xv., B, 6, and Col.ii., 16, 17. I venture to say that these two texts do not mean anything like what is forced upon them. The apostle cannot be made to assert here that under the Christian dispensation, there was to be no day more sacred than another. It is admitted by all that he took part under the guidauce of the Spirit in sanctifying the Lord's Day. He must have referred to the Jewish Sabbath, with the other sacred days of the Jewish Church. Many of the early converts to Christianity sought to return back to the beggarly elements of the old dispensation, and among these to its festival days. Sabbath was a general name for a religious festival. The apostle does not in these passages allude to the Fourth Commandment or the Christian Sabbath. He only leaves the observance of additional days to the individual conscience. Let us look, however, at some additional arguments. Christ came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. He fulfilled all its types and ceremonies, and in that way abolished " the law of commandments contained in ordinances " But the moral law he Himself sanctioned afresh, interpreted in its true meaning, taught its exceeding breadth and purified it from the corruptions of the elders, and Himself kept it as our substitute and example. And as he reproved the Pharisees in the sermon on the Mount for their false interpretations of some of the commendments ; so He elsewhere reproved them for their false interpretation of the fourth commandment without giving any hint as to its losing its original authority. We read " that the Sabbath was made for man," and some would conclude from this that man need not observe it. But the Sabbath means rest. If- this day was made for man's use, have we a right to abolish it ? The very reverse. Again, some remind us that "we are not under the law but under grace."- No ; thanks be unto God, we are not under the law. But do we therefore feel at liberty to steal, to blaspheme;to commit adultery? No,rather let us say with the apostle, " God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein ?" And we are as much under obligation to obedience to the fourth commandment as to any of the others. We are not under the law as to its condemning power, but it is still our rule of life, and in proportion to our growth iu grace shall we find the law written on our hearts according to the promise of the new covenant. Again, we are told that the law is spiritual. Well, it is so. And remark how our Lord taught this. See how He taught this in reference to the seventh commandment. And He applies the same principle to the fourth. We may indeed, like the Pharisees, keep it in the letter, but that is not the observance the Lord enjoins. I remember a clergyman, to whom I owe much, telling me that Charles Simeon said to a young student —" Love God and do anything." That love will lead us to keep God's law. There is another fact which establishes the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath, that stated by the prophet Isaiah, that its faithful observance shall be one of the characteristics of millcnial age. Then the true religion is i be extended to the ends of the earth, and during the future period there will be a Sabbath which will be "a delight, the holy of the Lord and honorable," and special blessings will be bestowed on those who truly delight in it.

NATURAL REASONS FOR A DAY OF REST

For all God's commandments there is a needs-be. They are not arbitary in their essence, but rest, so far as a man is concerned, upon some necessity of our nature or circumstances. Whatever there may be in.them which is circumstantial merely, that is put away ; but whatever is of their essence is perpetual. We shall find in regard to everyone of them, a need-be in the well-being of man, and the maintenance of religion in the world, Well, let us ask about this commandment, and we shall see the needs-be. And first, man needs a stated rest. No machinery can go on perpetually without, rest. My friend Mr Anderson would testify to this in regard to the machinery which everywhere meets yon in his yard; and if his machinery would fail, his men would much more break down. For this is much more true as to the human machine. Think of the striking tesfcimany of the infidels of France in the first revolution. They abolished God. They got up certain heathen rites. They worshipped a strumpet under the name of the goddess of reason. In addition, they abolished the Christian Sabbath, and substituted a tenth day of rest. What was the result ? The physicians of France were under the necessity of making representations to the Government that the tenth day of rest was insufficient ; and they were obliged to return to the seventh. I lived for many years in London, and I have observed that many of the working men there spent the Sabbath in recreation ; and the result was. that Monday was the very worst day of the week for work. They need the Monday—" Saint Monday " to recover from the exhaustive effects of the misuse of the sacred day.

Another need-bo is tln> necessity of a memorial of God, And God set this day

apart aa a memorial of Himself, of ilis creation, and of what he has done for his people; for our redemption. If it was needful for the Israelites to have a memorial of their deliverance, much more do we require a memorial of ours. This is not all, it is necessary for us to have a set and special time for the worship of God, and for the Church's acting upon the world. What can be done at any time is not done at all; or if each man were to choose his own time for the worship of God, how would it be possible to meet together, or where would be the communion of saints ? This is the time moreover for acting upon the great mass of the people. We have difficulties as it is. Men go among them in the very haunts of sin to proclaim the great tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ. But how much more difficult it would be if there were no time set apart for the good work, and no time when we could lay hold upon those whom we sought to benefit because their worldly avocations necessarily ceased. Yet again there is need of a halt in the current of worldly business. I had occasion once to consult a physician for health; he asked me, was I not working too hard 1 Did I think of my business after I got home? This just shows the necessity of some day entirely set apart from the worries of our daily calling. Thoughts of bad debts, bills to meet, pressing creditors, and a thousand such annoyances, require imperatively sometimes to be laid aside. If we only realised the blessedness of getting near to the Lord, then shouldjvve greatly appreciate the value of this day. I shall only add here that these need-be's press upon us much more strougly than they did in the days of Sinai. CHANGE OF DAY. Some object to the Sabbath law on account of the change of the day. But there are parts of the commandments circumstantial and parts moral. Here, it is not the seventh day which is set apart, but a seventh portion of our time. Just as the seventh day was observed as a memorial of the new creation, the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath as a memorial of the new creation, the resurrection of Christ. That this day was observed in the Apostolic Church, see Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. xvi, 2 ; llev. i, 10. There is a curious statement made on this subject which I may mention, namely, that during the captivity, the Jews lost their reckoning of time and observed the wrong day, and that now it is the true day which we observe. I do not however found anything upon this. THE PRESENT MOVEMENT IN CANTERBURY. The present movement in Canterbury is of a character to destroy the sanctity of the Sabbath. The opening of the Museum is one of the first steps to invade this sacred day. I am not aware that in any country under Protestant Anglo-Saxon rule there is by public»authority any similar violation of the law of the Sabbath. Here let me say that we have no right to use any external coercion to compel its observance ; but I think we may draw the line at the public violation by authority. Ido not think that the State has any right to do what a private individual would not do. Can we say, moreover, that this Act is final. We, on the contrary, recognise it. as "the thin edge of the wedge." This argument has been much jeered at, but it is true nevertheless , and we may depend upon it that, unless we strenuously resist, the werlge will be driven home. A proof of this we have in the Provincial Council. No sooner is t! e Museum opened than down conies a private member with a proposal to run trains on the Northern Railway. It might be that necessity should exist for such a thing. I for one should be exceedingly sorry if there were such necessity. But here in the case of the Northern railway there is no necessity. The people never asked for the boon which was professedly sought for them. Nay, I believe, that if the people were polled, there would be an overwhelming majority for closing the Museum. [Mr John Jebson, M.P.C., for the Kakaia, who was present at the meetiug, stated that there was not one in ten of his constituents who desired the opening of the Museum.] Remark, however, the truth of the argument—the thin edge of the wedge. But this is not all. If the railways are opened we must open the public houses as the people would flock in from the country and would be lona fide travellers. Again, the Kaiapoi Library could never have been opened if the Provincial Council had left the Mustum alone. Let me mention here an instance of a want of candour. It was stated as an argument for the opening of the Museum that the Melbourne Museum was open on the Lord's Day. Why ! when the word reach■ d Melbourne of the work of our Provincial Council ; here, it was said by the newspapers of that city, is a high church settlement so liberal as to open its Museum, we cannot be wrong in following its example. What can we call such a statement adduced as an argument but a He.

The associated vinters in like manner, encouraged by this first step, moved in the same direction. lam happy to be able to say that they do not all wish to carry on their trade on the Sunday, as some of their names are on the roll of this committee. Houses of business must follow suit. When I first came to Canterbury, I was glad to observe as an illustration of conscientiousness that our Jewish fellow citizens shut their places of business on their Sabbath. Now owing to the competition of business many of them have their shops open, and this is what competition in business will do, if once the rule is broken through. Look at the continent "of Europe: I have seen tilings in Palis on the Lord's day which ail cted me much. We have all heard of the terrible destruction wrought by ihe FrancoPrussian war. But supposing you were brought fa«c to face with shattered bodies, and all the ghastly memorials of violent death. Supposing the cannon ball were to burst into your own drawing room. How much more vivid would be your sense of the horrors of war ! So I felt when brought face to face with the state of matters in Paris. In the morning I went into several churches, and found them poorly attended, and mostly by women. In the afternoon the Boulevards were covered with pleasure seekers, and the resorts of pleasure were crowded. At the palace of St Oloud there was a grand fete ; and there were shows, mountebanks, in a word everything that used to be seen at Greenwich lair. In the evening the theatres were open, as were also the opera-houses. There was no distinction visible between that day and any other holiday. Do you wish to see that in Canterbury ? God forbid. THE ARGUMENTS OF EXPEDIENCY.

There is an argument put forward in favor of Sunday pleasuring which is really becoming Loo stale, it is ho often hold up to our admiration as one that justifies almost

nnything—is it not better to open the museum than that people should get drunk. Well, if you put it as an abstract question I say yes. But the right way to put it is—is it proper to break one law to keep another? Better to have these places of rational amusement open than to drink ? Well my observation is that one of the first steps in the process of falling is to break the Sabbath. Opening the museum therefore is the direct ro'id to drink. If yo't can encourage men to break one law for your advantage or pleasure, they will break another for their own. Keep the Sabbath and you have one additional security against evil. RELIGION AND POLITICS. Take another point. You know that all discussions on religion are excluded from politics. But can we banish religion from politics? It is not necessary certainly to quote texts, for instance, in the Provincial Council. Can we, however, abolish the fact that we are Christians ? One of the noblest features in our English constitution is that Christianity is the basis of our social life. Every law proceeds upon the supposition of its truth. For the sake of argument lee us admit that government may he neutral. But take a step further—while we consent to sanction neutrality, let us not consent that it should take up a hostile position. Now I maintain that when it opens the Museum, it takes up an attitude of opposition. We are not here taxed to support any religion. We pay no church rates. Though you know I am what is called a churchman, I should object to be taxed to support a church. That church might hold doctrines which I could not approve. But if we object to be taxed to support religion, what can we say when we are taxed to support irreligion ? It is said you cannot make people religious by Act of Parliament. True, but you may make them irreligious by Act of Parliament, and do much to hinder the work of the church—and by church I mean Christian people, to whatever denomination they belong. And if a Government sets up counter-attractions to the work of the church, offers inducements to irreligion, and at the very time when christian men and women lay themselves out for the work of God, it both violates the principle of neutrality, and compels us to pay a tax to support an opposition to our best efforts for the common good. DISCUSSION. You will remark, we invite discussion. This is what we covet. The object of this League is to influence public opinion. And for this end we seek for discussion. We are not afraid of it. I believe our position is so strong as to be absolutely impregnable. If you are a christian you must agree with us. Nay, if you are an infidel, you must agree with us so far ; you must admit the necessity for one day's rest in the seven. We challenge discussion, therefore, believing that the more the question is discussed, the more the more and the more strongly will public opinion pronounce in favor of our views. HUMILIATING DEFEAT OF THE ANTISABBATH LEAGUE AT HOME. One thing I should like to mention before I sit down You will have noticed in the Home News, the humiliating defeat of that party at home, who have laboured so hard for the opening of the museums on the Lord's Day. They have have worked for twenty years at the very least for this end. And what is the result ? Why, when it was discussed in Parliament this year, the motion for opening such places was defeated by a majority of 271 against a minority of 68. and the reporters testify that the House had so completely made up its mind, that they listened impatiently to the several speakers on both sides, and hastened the division. This is only of a piece with another fact as to the result of the labors of that body, even that nearly all the railway companies—l think all save one, which has not yet decided the question—have formally refused to provide traius for the Sunday excursions organised by that body. I must now. however, conclude, and as I do so I thank you for your patient and candid attention. With your permission I will close by reading two extracts from an American author. The first of these as referring to America is, I think, pertinent to our circumstances. TWO QUOTATIONS. "When Protestant Christians came to this country they possessed and subdued the land. They worshipped God, and his son Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, and acknowledged the Scriptures to be the rule of their faith and practice. They introduced their religion into their families, their schools, and their colleges. They abstained from all ordinary business on the Lord's Day, and devoted it to religion. They built churches, erected schoolhouses, and taught their childrenjto read the Bible, and to receive and obey it as the word of God. They formed themselves as Christians, into municipal and state organisations. They .acknowledged God in their legislative assemblies. They prescribed oaths to be taken in His name. They closed their courts, their places of business, their legislatures, and all places under the public control on the Lord's Day. They declared Christianity to be part of the common law of the land. In the process of time thousands have come among us who are neither Protestants nor Christians. Home are papists, some Jews, some infidels, and some atheists. All are welcomed —all are admitted to equal rights and privileges. All are allowed to acquire property, and to vote in every election, made eligible to all offices, and invested with equal influence in all public affairs. All are allowed to worship as they please, or not to worship at all if they see fit. No man is molested for his religion, or for his want of religion. No man is required to profess any form of faith, or to join in any religious association. More than this cannot reasonably be demanded. More however is demanded -. The infidel demands that the government should he conducted on the principle that Christianity is false. The Atheist demands that it should be conducted on the assumption that there is no God, and the positivist on the principle that men are not free ageuts. The sufficient answer to all this is, that it cannot possibly be done." Heggstenberg after referring to the authority of the church and other grounds for the observance of the Lord's Day, closes his discussion on the subject with these words : " Thank God there are only the outworks, the real fortress is the command that sounded out from Sinai ; with the other divine commands therewith connected, as preparatory, confirmatory, or explanatory. The institution was far too important, and the temptations too powerful, that the solid ground of scriptural command coulrl be dispensed with . . It is as plain as day, that the obligation of the Old Testament command instead of being lessened is increased. This follows

of course from the fact that the redemption through Christ is infinitely more glorious than the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt, which in the preface of the ten commandments is referred to as a special notice to obedience. No ingratitude is blacker than refusing to obey Him, who for our sakes gave up his only begotten son." He had said before, that the Sabbath " rests on the unalterable necessities of our nature, inasmuch as men inevitably become Godless if the cares and labors of their earthly life be not regularly interrupted.