{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_62203/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_62203","id":"gutenberg_62203","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62203","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - British","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Crystal Palace (Sydenham, London, England)","Sabbath -- Biblical teaching","Sunday legislation -- Great Britain"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1852 Seeleys edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                        [Picture: Pamphlet cover]\n\n\n\n\n\n                           THE DIVIDED SABBATH.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 REMARKS\n\n                                CONCERNING\n\n                            THE CRYSTAL PALACE\n\n                        NOW ERECTING AT SYDENHAM.\n\n                                ~~~~~~~~~~\n\n                       \u201c_Do ye thus requite the Lord_!\u201d\n\n                                                     DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 6.\n\n                                ~~~~~~~~~~\n\n                     BY THE REV. WILLIAM JOWETT, M.A.\n\n              INCUMBENT OF ST. JOHN\u2019S CHURCH, CLAPHAM RISE,\n            AND LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN\u2019S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                SEELEYS, FLEET STREET, AND HANOVER STREET,\n                             HANOVER SQUARE.\n\n                                  1852.\n\n_Price Sixpence_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                  W. M. WATTS, CROWN COURT, TEMPLE BAR.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n\n                           THE DIVIDED SABBATH,\n                                 &c. &c.\n\n\nTHE following Report, found in the _Times_ of August 2d, 1852, appears to\nbe, on one side at least, demi-official.  It has given occasion to the\nRemarks contained in this pamphlet.\n\n    \u201cWe are happy to be able to state, that so far as the Government are\n    concerned, no impediment will be thrown in the way, and that there is\n    now no fear of the people\u2019s losing their palace on the day on which\n    they can best avail themselves of its many means of elevation and\n    refinement.  When the Directors of the Crystal Palace Company applied\n    some few weeks since to Lord Derby for a Charter, they communicated\n    to his Lordship the terms upon which they proposed to open the\n    building and grounds on Sundays.  They were of opinion, that until\n    after one o\u2019clock no trains should run from London, and the Crystal\n    Palace itself should be strictly closed.  After that hour they\n    proposed to throw open the Park and the Winter-Garden, but not to\n    exhibit those departments of the building, which will partake\n    exclusively of a manufacturing and commercial character, the\n    intention being to devote a certain portion of the space to specimens\n    of manufactures, &c., which the public will be invited, upon certain\n    conditions, to display.  In the third place, the Directors undertook\n    that on Sunday no spirituous liquors should be sold in their grounds.\n    On Monday last Lord Derby requested an interview with the Directors,\n    who, with Sir J. Paxton, waited upon the Premier and the Home\n    Secretary in Downing Street.  At this meeting his Lordship acquiesced\n    in the stipulations proffered by the Crystal Palace Company,\n    suggested a few trifling variations, and promised to grant the\n    required Charter.\u201d\n\nAn article in the _Times_, four days later, Aug. 6th, gives a full\naccount of the ceremony of erecting the first column of the New Crystal\nPalace.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nWith every desire that the best interests of my Countrymen should be\npromoted, and with sincere respect for those who entertain a similar\nwish, I have felt it my duty as an Englishman, and still more as a\nClergyman, to submit the following considerations to my Queen and my\nCountry.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nThe Crystal Palace now erecting at Sydenham is designed to be the most\nsplendid display of national greatness in the earth.  No objection can\nexist to its grandeur, its beauty, the marvellous exotics to be exhibited\nin it, or to the display of ingenious manufactures.  Some things it is\nintended to expose, which may prove decidedly objectionable: I refer to\nthe sculpture-department.  But I will not enter into details.  The one\ngreat evil characterising the plan, is this\u2014That it is designed to open\nthe building to visitors during one half of the Lord\u2019s Day.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nObserve\u2014the people of London and its suburbs, that is, four millions, are\ninvited to mutilate the Sabbath, by a plan which allows the first half to\nbe given to God\u2019s worship, but allures them to spend the second half in\nworldly amusement.  The favourers of the scheme virtually say\u2014\u201cResort to\nthe House of God in the morning, and to the Temple of Pleasure the rest\nof the day.\u201d  This is a scheme far more artful, than if the enemy of\nmankind had said, \u201cGive _the whole day_ to me:\u201d that would have shocked\nus at once: but\u2014\u201cLet half be given to God, and the second half to\nPleasure\u201d\u2014this is plausible: and it is therefore so much the more\ndangerous.\n\nI have said, four millions are thus invited.  But consider the Counties\ninvolved in this invitation\u2014the many watering-places in those counties,\nwhich have Excursion-trains in connection with London the whole of\nSunday\u2014the near neighbourhood of France and other Continental\ncountries\u2014the habits of those countries in making Sunday an open day for\nevery kind of diversion.  Taking all these points into consideration,\nthere is something more to be contemplated, than the mere erection of a\nCrystal Palace.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nLet us reflect how the plan will work.  I have used a decent term,\n\u201cPleasure.\u201d  And the favourers of the scheme may adopt terms yet more\nreputable: inviting people to the study of Nature, in all the wonderful\nproductions of native and foreign plants, leading them \u201cfrom Nature up to\nNature\u2019s God.\u201d  This sounds well: but after all, the thing is, not what\nan elegant writer may describe it, but what the Million will make it.  A\npoet, or an artist, may disguise a subject in a thousand ways: but this\nTemple of Pleasure will infallibly become, in the hands of the Million, a\nFocus of Dissipation.\n\nAnalyse a little this divided Sabbath, this Lord\u2019s Day divided into two\nhalves: not indeed perfectly equal halves; for the nominal date of\nrecreation commences precisely one hour after mid-day: then the rush of\nrailway carriages from the London terminus is to commence, Divine Service\nhaving at most Churches in and about London ended at one o\u2019clock.  Then,\nand in the hours following, the twenty, or the fifty thousand men, women\nand children, are to be set in motion.  They will find no intoxicating\ndrinks sold on the premises of the Crystal Palace!  But will not the\nsurrounding localities offer them, under the name of refreshments,\nwhatever they please?\n\nLook to the first part of the day.  Does any man suppose that one half of\nthese many thousands will have been worshipping God in the family and in\nthe Church?  Is it in the least degree likely?  Does a single favourer of\nthe scheme imagine it probable?  I think not.\n\nBut then it will be pleaded, that the scheme is purposely so arranged,\nthat people _might_, if they wished, go to Church with their families in\nthe forenoon.  I have even heard it gravely said, \u201cThe people _need not_\nbreak the Sabbath: they _may_ go to Church in the morning; and if they do\nnot, it is their own fault.\u201d  To this argument silence might be the best\nreply.  And I hope truly, that the _Conscience of the Nation_ will\nrepudiate such sophistry.\n\nI speak of Conscience: and I remember that the conscience of a Child is\nas much honoured and protected by God, as the conscience of any other\nindividual.  _Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones_.\nBetter for a man to have a millstone hanged about his neck, and he be\ncast into the sea, than that the moral sense of a young person be\nperverted.  Suppose, now, a father or mother to take some of their\nchildren to Church, and hear the Commandments read: then imagine an\ningenuous boy or girl, on the way to the Crystal Palace, saying, \u201cThe\nMinister read the words, _Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day_;\u201d\nand they ask father or mother to reconcile the words of the command, and\ntheir excursion of amusement: the parents hush up the matter, by saying,\n\u201cChildren must not be particular; it is enough to keep holy _half the\nSabbath Day_, and spend the rest of it pleasantly.\u201d  What a comment would\nthis be!\n\nThis then is the sin, the one sin, at which I take aim.  I do not pursue\nthis part of the subject, by showing what multitudes of Railway servants,\nPublicans, Policemen, and others, will inevitably be absorbed during the\nentire Sabbath for miles and miles around, by this scheme.  Here is the\none crime, a divided Sabbath: here is the focus and centre of it, the\nCrystal Palace at Sydenham!\u2014If any do not see the evil, or are determined\nto blink it, it will not be difficult to draw up a Sketch (not an\nexaggerated Sketch, but a very simple one, and so much the more\nconvincing:) taking into view\u20141.  London and its suburbs: 2.  The\ncircumjacent Counties: 3.  The infection of the Continental Sabbath: 4.\nThe state of the families of the industrial classes during the six\nweek-days: and, 5.  Their probable condition from Saturday Evening to\nMonday Evening, _forty-eight hours_, resulting from this scheme of a\nDivided Sabbath.  But I hope that no such Tract will ever have to be\nwritten.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nThe projected _Aggression of Pleasure_ in 1853 is to me a greater object\nof dread, than the _Aggression of Popery_ in 1850: because it falls in\nwith the taste of the vast majority of mankind.  The danger of Popery I\ndo not under-estimate.  It is a scheme adapted to fall in with the\nFormalism and Self-Righteousness of Man\u2019s heart.  There was also\ntreachery in the camp of the Church of England, at the time when Popery\ntook aim at the Royal Supremacy, and asserted its claim to be Lord of the\nconsciences of all mankind: England, of course, included.  But England\nrepelled that aggression.  The _Aggression of Pleasure_ is more subtle,\nmore extensive, more congenial.  It is a subject, therefore, on which I\nmust expatiate with the honest and affectionate freedom of a Clergyman.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nLet me then observe, first, that it is a very difficult task _To move\ngreat masses of people in a right direction_.  In a wrong direction, it\nis not so difficult.  To rouse them to revolution, and then screw them\ndown by despotism, has been the work of a short time, in some\nneighbouring countries.  But to draw them back from an evil purpose, and\nlead them into a right channel of feeling and action, is a hard work:\u2014a\nconsideration this, which makes it the more imperative to check at once\nthis flagrant scheme of Sabbath-breaking before it begins.  Once broken\nout, what human hand can turn back the torrent?\n\nBut is it not equally difficult _Rightly to move the heart even of one\nindividual_?  We speak of \u201cThe Million:\u201d but that million is composed of\nunits.  To lead any one individual, be he rich or poor, to feel the value\nof his own soul, is a work worthy the labours and sacrifices of a whole\nlife.  To move that one heart, however, is not man\u2019s work.  _With man\nthis is impossible_: _but with God all things are possible_.\n\nHence appears the importance of the _Prayer of faith_.  Christ is the\nStrong One, stronger than Satan, in whose name prayer is to be offered to\nthe Father: and in answer to believing prayer, the Holy Spirit is poured\nforth, on individuals, on Churches, on Nations, on the whole World.  Who\ncan overpower the Almighty Spirit, when it pleases Him to work?  Without\nhis influence, nothing, even under the most favourable circumstances, can\nbe effected: with His influence, every good work, under most unfavourable\ncircumstances, may and will be effected.  _Not by power_, _not by might_,\n_but by my Spirit_, _saith the Lord of Hosts_.  _Who art thou_, _O great\nmountain_! _before Zerubbabel_, _thou shalt become a plain_.  By the\npower of the Spirit, every difficulty presented by the Million shall\nvanish.  The heart of the Million shall be bowed, as the heart of one\nman.  This will be in answer to prayer; whether secret prayer; or both\nsecret and social prayer.\n\nAnother consideration deeply affecting to my mind, is this.  Among the\nvarious means for the promotion and preservation of a nation\u2019s welfare,\nthere is not one of higher importance than the exercise of _A faithful\nGospel-Ministry_.  I am, on principle, a Clergyman of the Church of\nEngland: but I honour Ministers of every Communion, who with simplicity\nand godly sincerity preach Christ.  In the present eventful crisis, we\nneed the aid of all.  Here is no question of Church and Dissent: the\nquestion is, whether or not Popery and Pleasure shall over-run the\nland\u2014whether we shall uphold the Law of God, and Christ\u2019s Gospel; or\nviolate both.\n\nThere is a great Duty now lying before us: namely\u2014_To make the Lord\u2019s Day\nprofitable and interesting to the People_.  By the Crystal Palace scheme\nthe People are invited to Pleasure: at least for the second half of the\nday.  The favourers of this scheme expressly undertake to teach the\nPeople \u201cto amuse themselves:\u201d and Sunday, from one o\u2019clock till\nnight-fall, is selected for the purpose of promoting this object among\nthe working classes.  As Ministers of Christ, then, are we not now\nbrought to the test?  \u201cWill we endeavour to make the Lord\u2019s Day\u2014the whole\nof it\u2014interesting and useful to the Million?  How likewise may we put the\npeople into the way of making this day interesting to themselves?\u201d\n\nI feel the difficulties of this part of the subject: nor can I remove\nthem by proposing so many more Sermons, Services, Sabbath-Schools, &c.,\nalthough works of such kind would naturally form a part of any plan of\nextending usefulness.  But I feel, and long have felt that there is one\ngreat, vital measure; which, if God should bless us in the universal\npromotion of that measure, will diffuse spiritual health and happiness\nthrough all classes of society.\n\nTo render the Lord\u2019s Day interesting, Religion itself must become\ninteresting to a People.  Every-day Religion is the only thing that can\nmake a Sunday-Religion profitable and interesting.  The one topic of\npre-eminent importance in this point of view is\u2014_The General introduction\nof Family Prayer_.  Domestic Worship is among the greatest of earthly\nblessings, both to the Rich and to the Poor.  We say in England, \u201cEvery\nman\u2019s house is his Castle.\u201d  For all domestic purposes, let every man\u2019s\nhouse be also his Church!  In setting up this standard, the Ministers of\nChrist have a noble task before them.  Our public Congregations on the\nLord\u2019s Day will not be diminished by the multiplication of these Domestic\nSanctuaries during the week: these, on the contrary, will render our\nevery-day Religion interesting, and thus make also the Sabbath a delight.\nThey will fill our Churches, and thin the throng of Sabbath-breakers,\nplease God, to nothing!\n\nAs to the notion that this violation of the Sabbath will give rest and\nmental refinement to the people, it is an utter delusion.  Last year I\nwas conversing about the Excursion-trains with an aged relative, who has\nsince been removed to the eternal world.  When under twenty years of age\nhe was for a while engaged in mercantile business, in one of the most\nactive and opulent of our manufacturing towns: but from pure love to the\nwork of the Ministry he relinquished very flattering worldly prospects,\nand for more than forty years was a burning and a shining light in the\nparish and in the county where he laboured.  Referring to his early days,\nand viewing with alarm the threatening abuses of the Railways, he\nremarked to me\u2014\u201cThey quite mistake the idea of Sunday-rest, who suppose\nthat it consists in pleasure-taking.  When I was engaged in business,\nearly and late on all the week-days\u2014very often so tired out that I\nscarcely knew what to do with myself\u2014Sunday was the greatest possible\nrefreshment to me.  The mere act of ceasing from work, together with\nreading my Bible and going to Church, was rest.  But then,\u201d he added,\n\u201cthis implies a change of heart; a different taste from what the world\nhas.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nI have thus written from the fulness of my heart, and from the deepest\nconvictions of my judgment, believing that a crisis of great danger to\nour beloved country is closely impending.  If a Royal Charter has been\npromised, specifically authorising the opening of the Crystal Palace on\nany part of Sunday, then the Poor are in the fair way to be robbed of\ntheir real Rest, by the substitution of an imaginary recreation, so\narranged that it cannot be enjoyed without sin.  If the Royal sanction\nwere actually given, I would yet look to \u201cThe Million,\u201d Englishmen as\nthey are, and Bible-men, to reject the proffered amusement.  How may the\nthreatened evil be averted?  Whether deliverance shall be sent from some\nvery humble quarter; or whether it shall be the hand of a Queen, more\nwary than Darius, that shall refuse to sign the writing and the decree,\nGod alone knoweth!  My earnest hope and prayer, is, that the rumour of\nsuch a Charter may die away to nothing.  As Englishmen, may we be roused\nfrom our dreams of amusement to a higher standard of duty!  May History\nnever have to record, that in the nineteenth century it was sought to\nerect\u2014and in Britain, too\u2014a People\u2019s happiness on the basis of God\u2019s\nbroken law!\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 THE END.","title":"The Divided Sabbath: remarks concerning the Crystal Palace now erecting at Sydenham","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":2852}