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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 26

Public Libraries, Galleries of Art, Museums, etc. — On Sundays

Public Libraries, Galleries of Art, Museums, etc.

On Sundays.

Tell me not that our Adults are incapable of being enlightened and elevated by beholding the thousands of objects contained in those Schools, and by listening to explanatory lectures from qualified men; for, their lack of scientific education will not prevent them from deriving incalculable benefit: and, in the course of time, our Australian populace may rival the ancient Athenians, who are allowed to have been the most intelligent community the world has ever seen; yet, what were their scientific acquirements? why, there were but few among those who gazed on the Parthenon, few who listened to Pericles, few who were enraptured with Eschylus, and few who applauded Sophocles, who knew either to write or to read! And why should not unlettered Australians have their minds enlarged? their thoughts develloped? their tastes cultivated?

Besides, the peace, safety, and general welfare of the State would be insured, by raising the low and disorderly members into sober and well-behaved citizens; for, as Everett has observed—

An intelligent class can scarce ever be, as a class, vicious; never as a class, indolent: the excited mental activity operates as a counterpoise to the stimulus of sense and appetite;"

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corroborating the shrewd remark of Austin, that—

An enlightened People were a better auxiliary to the Judge, than an army of Policemen."

Did my pecuniary circumstances allow it, I could furnish scores of valuable opinions on this point, far outweighing the opinion of thousands who have never seriously examined the subject; such, for instance, as that of the able Curator of the British Museum, who, in his evidence before the Fine Arts Committee, said—

I do not anticipate any difficulty in making arrangements for Opening on Sunday afternoon. The same assistance by the Police as on great Holidays, might be adopted. If the British Museum were Open on the Afternoon of Sunday, many Men who now go alone for pleasure trips to the country, would accompany their Wives and Children to the British Museum; and I see no objection to the admission of Children with their Parents. Judging from the attention on the Holidays, when the Husband and Wife visit the Museum together, there is evidently a great desire to avail themselves of the Instruction which the place affords. The behavior of the people is very good. I am delighted to see the manner in which they examine the Collection on Holidays. The Mechanics appear much interested in the Specimens, and, frequently, One who knows more than the others, will demonstrate for the rest of the party. Great advantages are derived from the perusal of the Collection. It gives the mass of the people a general taste for the study of Nature; which must be highly advantageous to their Morals. I consider the Museum one of the Greatest Educational Establishments in the country, and one of those places where people may gain sound knowledge. Galleries of works of Art, I regard in the same light; and, I think, they ought to be as free as possible. Having formerly practised as a Medical man in one of the largest districts of Spitalfields, I am well aware there is a mass of people who have no opportunity of visiting the Museum, or any Gallery of Art, save on the Sunday; and many of whom would rather spend their Sunday afternoon in that manner, than as they have hitherto been accustomed!

Such was a part only of the evidence given by one of the clearest-headed men in London, Dr. Grey; and Sir Joshua Walmsley, on introducing the subject to the House of Commons, told the Members, that

"He regarded this Motion as purely an Educational one; and he should indeed rejoice, could he induce others to look upon it in that light. It was Educational, in the most impressive sense, and would extend that blessing to tens of thousands whom the millions spent on a Church establishment had not yet reached"!

I have scores and hundreds of extracts from the speeches and letters of other Advocates for the rights and priviliges of the Workingclasses; such as Mr. Heyworth, who says—

I believe, that by Opening the British Museum and the National Galleries to the multitude, on the Sabbathday, a source of knowledge would be made available to them, from which they are now virtually excluded. Thus the eyes of their understanding would be opened, and the mental darkness of Ignorance, which now obscures the perception of the pure light of the Gospel, would be expelled."

But, to proceed still further, going out of the boundaries of Education into the territories of pure Gratification, I insist on the expediency and strict religious propriety of our enjoying every rational Recreation page 27 that may fall in our way on Sundays, whether on foot or in vehicles, whether on land or water, whether in steamboats or rail carriages, the Sabbath having; been made for Man, not Man for the Sabbath; in which expediency I am countenanced by men more celebrated in the religious world, than any of our "Sunday Observance Society;" such as Dr. Arnold, who, in his letter of 1 April, 1840, writes—

That Sunday should be a day of greater leisure than other days, and of the suspension as far as may be of the common business of life, I quite allow; and if the Railway enables the people in the great towns to get out into the country on a Sunday, I should think it a very great Good."

The Rev. John Griffith, Vicar of Aberdare, in a letter published 27 Nov. 1852 (in the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian) after expressing his hearty approval of the proposed Opening of the Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoons, as a means of diminishing drunkenness, gambling, and fighting among the lower orders, proceeds in the following words—

It is the same thing with Sunday Trains. A great outcry has been raised against them. I say it, with every consciousness of the responsibility I incur, as Incumbent of one of the largest parishes in Wales, and with abundant opportunity of testing their usefulness—that, were it not for Sunday Trains, we should have Ten times more Sabbathbreaking in this country than we have now. I can hardly conceive a greater calamity, in a Moral point of view, to a parish like mine, with its 16,000 workmen, than if some Puritanical panic were to seize the Directors of the Taff Vale and Vale of Neath, so that all the Sunday Trains were to be stopped! There would be no living on the Sabbath here. Let the Sunday Trains run as now, resting during Church service, and they will effect, as they are constantly effecting, a great Moral change in the people! I have spoken my mind honestly on this subject, because I think it is time the Clergy should speak. I will yield to none in doing all and everything to "Keep holy the Sabbathday;" and I am quite sure my Parishioners will bear me witness in this. But, there is a vast difference between keeping this day holy, and that rigid Sabbatarianism which has well-nigh threatened, more than once, to bring back the vapid emptiness of the days of the Roundheads. The question is not one of desecration of the Sabbath, but the enlightenment, the recreation, the rest, the elevation of the Workingman. Lord Derby has done a noble act, and I trust he will be supported in it. I fear nothing of "Continental desecration;" I fear nothing for Religion, or, the Church! Open people's Minds; and let us, the Clergy, pray God to open ours as well: and "the city that is set on a hill, can never be hid "!

I cannot resist making room for a few passages, at least, out of Lord Stanley's clever, liberal, and statesmanlike address on the Sabbath-question, in the House of Commons—

"He apprehended, the Object of the Resolution before the House, was not to ask for liberty to stay away from the British Museum or National Gallery on Sunday—that they had already. The opponents of the Resolution, asked not to be allowed to keep the Seventh day in their own way, but, to have power placed in their hands to Compel all others to do the same. In doing that, He believed, they mistook not only the theory of Government, but, the nature of a religious duty. If the whole question at issue, were merely the Opening of One or Two institutions, he would admit that the object was scarcely worth the effort it cost; but this was not simply page 28 a question of maintaining new privileges—it was rather one of keeping those which the public already possessed. There was no arguement against the Opening of the Museum, which did not apply with equal force to excursion Trains; and which, urged to its legitimate limits, would not go to the closing of places of refreshment, the stopping of omnibuses, and the laying of an embargo on river steamers. This city was, from east to west, six miles across, and a man living in the centre, could not take his family into the country except by employing some cheap public conveyance. On what pretext of fair play, or, common humanity, could they shut up in Shoreditch or Bethnal Green, on a Sunday, the thousands who populated those districts, when they knew that every man who had a sick child would hasten, let the day of the week be what it might, to remove it from the smoke and filth of London to the pure, fresh breeze of the country? He did not wish to raise the cry of one law for the rich, and another for the poor; but, if this was the spirit in which the House of Commons was going to legislate for the country, that cry, depend upon it, would be raised sooner or later, and in tones louder than had yet been heard. [Hear, hear] Another arguement against the resolution was, that it would impose compulsory labor on the Government officials. He could not very well understand the force of this objection, for they had no particular tenderness for the Police, to whom Sunday was a day of labor, and not much sympathy for the Clerks in the Post Office. But the difficulty, such as it was, might be evaded by two methods. It would be easy to exempt, with proportionate deductions, those who had a conscientious objection to work on Sundays—he did not believe the number would be very great; and, on the other hand, it would be quite practicable so to arrange the relays of the service, that no official should be employed to superintend any public building on more than one Sunday out of three or four. [Hear, hear] With regard to the objection, that this measure would interfere with religious worship, he did not believe that it would have any such operation. He would not dwell upon the fact, that a large majority of the workingmen in this metropolis did not attend any place of worship whatever; and that if they should be disposed to do so, there would not be Churches enough to hold them. He would not dwell on that, for the state of things which it indicated, might only be temporary, although it did seem hard to say, that one generation should be left to pass their Sunday in the pot-house in order that the next generation may have rather less inducement to stay away from Church. But, they would do well to remember, that an intire day passed in mental attention to abstruse subjects was difficult, even to the educated, and to the untaught or half-educated, impossible. [Hear, hear] There was time on Sunday, both for religious worship and for innocent recreation. There need not be any competition between the Church and the Museum. He hoped that between the Museum and the Publichouse there would be much competition. He did not expect that the Resolution would command a large amount of support in that House; but, of this they might be assured, that If they legislated in their present temper—if they continued old restrictions and created new ones, they would make religion unpopular, and throw back education. The clergy would gain nothing—the people would lose much; but, one class, he admitted, would thank them for their efforts—they would have swelled the profits and gladdened the hearts of every Brewer, Distiller, and Publican in the United Kingdom."

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Pursuing the subject still farther, I come to the Parks and Gardens belonging to the Public, which the mischievous Members of the "Sunday Observance Society" are now striving to Close on the only day in the week when they are most needed to be Open. It is monsterous, that a handful of Sabbatarian Evil-doers should presume to prevent all the the inhabitants of Melbourne and its suburbs from enjoying the fresh air on a Sunday in their own Gardens! To whom do those Parks and Gardens belong? to the Public at large? or, to a clique, a sorry, an insignificant, a pitiable clique of Sabbatists? And who has the charge of our Parks and Gardens? the "Sunday Observance Society"? or, the Government? And can the Government sacrifice the well-being of the many, to the superstition of a few? It cannot be! It must not be!

Not only should our Gardens be open, but, they should be made attractive; resounding with music; enticing our tens of thousands away from closely pent-up localities; and providing innocent amusements, to allure even the lowest of our Loafers and Larrikins from the scenes of wretchedness and crime in which they drag out the most blessed day of the week. Depend upon it, the way to make men better, is to make them happier. If such men as Calvin, bishop Aylmer, and archbishop Laud, could play at bowls on Sundays, why should not our unlettered masses be indulged in such innocent amusements? Even our ascetic archdeacon Denison (notorious for his illiberal prosecution of Colenso) has recently declared his readiness to participate in such innocent games "after Service on Sundays"! And if the Members of our New parliament of 1871 will but take the trouble of ascertaining the Opinions of the more advanced Members of the British parliament, on the Sabbath-question, they will pause before curtailing the gratifications of the public of Victoria on Sundays. Accept but half-a-dozen (abbreviated) opinions—

Lord Palmerston (when Prime Minister) expressed himself as follows—

I concurred in the arrangements for performances by military bands in Kensington Gardens and in the Parks, for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoons, after divine service; because, I thought that those arrangements would afford the inhabitants of the metropolis innocent intellectual recreation, combined with fresh, air and healthy exercise; and such recreation did not seem to me to be at variance with the soundest and purest sentiments of religion. Such was my opinion, and such is my opinion still; for, I have heard nothing on the part of those who object to these arrangements, which has altered my view of the matter."

Sir Benjamin Hall repeatedly spoke, as well as acted, in favor of Sunday bands; and when the Discussion on the notorious Memorial, signed by the Reverend Secretaries of three metropolitan mosaic Associations (styling themselves Christians) for what they were pleased to term "the better Observance of the Lord's day," took place in the House of Commons, Sir Benjamin said—

"He had frequent reports from the Park-keepers, and from the Superintendent of the Parks; but, he had not heard of a single complaint of the conduct of the people—on the contrary, he believed that the cases before the magistrates on Monday had materially diminished. [Hear, hear] Last year, during the playing of the bands sanctioned by the Government, upwards of 200,000 people visited the Parks on one Sunday; and yet, not a single case arising out of the Bands, came before the magistrates. [Hear, hear.]

The Times. 11 Aug. 1857

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In an article on the Sunday Band Question the Weekly Dispatch says—

When we surveyed the vast mass of persons assembled on the sward, we were amazed at the orderly conduct that prevailed. Every one seemed delighted with the Music, and at the opportunity thus afforded them of listening to its delightful sounds. We could have wished the presence of those sanctified mortals who lately petitioned the Legislature for a better Observance of the Lord's day, and bored the Minister, through deputations, to prevent every species of amusement taking place. They would have witnessed such a scene as would have convinced them (if they are at all open to conviction) that Sunday recreation of the kind vouchsafed to the public by Sir Benjamin Hall, is neither offensive to common decency nor displeasing to the Deity. We are quite sure, that if her Majesty (the most religious and virtuous queen that ever sat upon the throne of these realms) imagined for a moment that it is a desecration of the Sabbath to allow the band to play in her palaces and in the grounds surrounding them, on Sundays, the practice would Immediately be discontinued. But the Queen views the question in a different and liberal light. Seeing that recreation is essential to the toiling millions, her Majesty patronizes those amusements which she thinks best calculated to raise the standard of morality, and she seeks that object by proclaiming to her people that innocent Sunday recreation is, of all things, best calculated to elevate the mind and make the future man."

Such readers as are aware of the interest taken in the Sunday enjoyments of the people, by the Earl of Derby, Lord Palmerston, and Lord Stanley, will not be surprised at the declaration of Lord John Manners, on Sunday Bands—

I may now be permitted to say a few words in reply to the question which has been put to me by Mr. Stevenson, in reference to the playing of Musical bands upon the Sabbath. The subject is one to which my attention has not yet been particularly directed; but, so far as I can now form a judgement with respect to it, I see no reason to depart from the arrangement which existed last year, under the direction of Sir Benjamin Hall."

The Times. 9 March, 1858.

Lyndhurst, the venerable recent Lord Chancellor of England, expressed to his Peers an unequivocal approval of the Music for the gratification of the people—

I consider the performance of the bands in the Victoria and Regent's Parks of Sundays, a most excelent and laudable establishment."

In a couple of sheets only, it is not possible to meet every Objection liable to be made against this Plea, neither to quote authorities substantiating every point; for, the subject is voluminous: but, having heard a few remarks while the Pamphlet has been passing through the press, I may as well notice them.

The objection against my treating on theological subjects, "because I am not a Clergyman," Milton (himself a Layman of much profounder biblical learning than any of the Clergy of his day) has answered fully; and Watson, the bishop of Llandaff (1737-1816) told his Clergy, that

Laymen are as much interested in the truth of Christianity as Churchmen are, and in this enlightened age, are as capable of seeing what is revealed in their bible."

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Luther and Calvin—that these two Reformers (like all the others) were Anti-sabbatists is no doubtful matter. Luther (1483-1546) writes

All days are holy days, as Isaiah had prophesied. And, on the other hand, all days are working days. Yet, rest is necessary. Keep the Sabbath holy for its use both to body and soul; but, if anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day's sake; if anywhere anyone sets up its observance upon a Jewish foundation; then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it, to do anything that shall reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit and liberty."

And Beza (1519-1605) who was associated with Calvin) (1509-156) has left it on record, that a Proposition of Calvin's was discussed by the Geneva Protestants, for holding their religious services on a Thursday, rather than on Sunday or Saturday; that they might more effectually discourage the notion of any one day, under the Christian dispensation, being more or less sacred than any other day: and Calvin himself writes,

Paul informs us, that Christians are not to be judged in respect of its Observance; because, it is a shadow of something to come. Col. II. 16. And, accordingly, He expresses a fear, lest his labor among the Galatians should prove in vain, because they still observed Days. Gal. IV. 10 11. And he tells the Romans, that it is superstitious to make one day differ from another. Rom. XIV. 5."

Tyndale or Tindale (b. 1477—martyred, at Antwerp, in 1536) whose Name is the greatest in the History of the English Reformation, writes plainly—

As for the Sabbath, we be lords over the Sabbath, and may yet change it into Monday, or into any other day, as we see need; or, may make every Tenth day holy day only, if we see cause why. Neither was there any cause to change it from Saturday, but to put a difference between us and the Jews; neither need we any holy day at all, if the people might be taught without it.

Tyndale's Answer to Sir T. More.

It is sheer nonsense to call Sunday the Sabbath, or the Lord's day, or the Christian sabbath, as heard from Pulpits; Constantine called it "the venerable day of the Sun," and it was first appointed to be kept as a day of rest from labor in the year 321, confirmed in 325; yet, Pulpits pretend that the Apostles changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday—no such thing! It is equally absurd in Christian ministers (in their prayers and sermons) to lard their English with Hebraisms, calling churches and chapels and meetinghouses, tabernacles and temples and sanctuaries; Pulpit teachers ought to call things by their right names. Professor Newman says,

It is truely vexatious, 1800 years after Paul's career, to have to fight Paul's battles against those who profess themselves not only his grateful children, but his unreasoning obedient disciples. It is, indeed, superfluous here to prove, what is on the face of the New testament, that Sundays are not Sabbaths, that Sabbaths are no part of Gentile Christianity, and that Sundays have in the Scripture nothing to do with abstinence from worldly business. The Puritan school of England and Scotland shuts its eyes to the plainest facts, because it believes it to be useful to hold that Sunday is Sabbath, and Sabbath binding upon us. In vain shall we point to Paul's contemptuous disavowals of Sabbaths, and to his declaration that He page 32 who disregards sacred Days is justified, so that He only disregard them to the Lord. In vain may it be proved from the Christian history, that untill Constantine, Sunday was a working-day with Christians. In vain will it be shown, that all the great Reformers held the ancient and catholic doctrine, that the observance of Sunday is a mere ordinance of the Church, not a command of God; and that untill the English and Scotch sabbatarians (late in the 16th century) Invented the Puritanical doctrine on this subject, it was unknown to the Christian church. As long as Englishmen care more for supposed Expediency than for Truth, they will, through thick and thin, stickle for a divinely obligatory Sabbath, unless one show them that this falsehood has its evil and dangerous side. p. 121.

Our ears are dinned with the False cry, "The Sabbath, the boon of the Workingman!" In many cases, say rather, his bane. More sin of every kind in England and Scotland is committed on Sunday, than on any other Day of the week; and of this, the (so-called) Sabbatical Institution is in great measure guilty, p. 122

"Sundays are now a political institution; no one can propose to abolish them: but let everyone try to make the best of it. I. By abandoning the false pretence of their observance being a Divine command—itself an intrinsic incredible absurdity, as well as without a shadow of New testament proof. II. By encouraging mental cultivation of the largest and most liberal kind on that day, and greatly shortening the prayers—but of this more will be said. III. By facilitating and inviting attendance at Church, wherever masses of people are disposed to flock for the recreation of country air; as at Richmond and Greenwich near London, and many other places near to great cities. IV. By solemnly urging, that Religion demands the whole heart for God on every day, and that no compromise can be made by looking grave or dressing clean for One day. p. 122.

Justly, then, do I hate the Sabbatical fiction, as a cause of real Sin to the anxious and well-intentioned, as well at to the careless and uncontrolled, p. 123.

The Soul; its Sorrows and its Aspirations Ed. of 1858,

What I have written, I have written; and though hastily, not unadvisedly. Should my efforts on behalf of the Workingclasses prove beneficial, this Plea shall stand me in the stead of glory, be the delight of my age, and an additional consolation at the close of my earthly existence—the prelude to those ineffable gratifications which await me on my transition into that other and better world, where I shall mingle with Immortals in ever-during and ever-increasing bliss.

B. S. N.

Courteous and Humane Reader,

if you think that the dissemination of the preceding pages is likely to be productive of Good and not Evil, then, I call upon you, in the name of Humanity, to assist me, by your Contribution (check, stamps, or cash) to issue this pamphlet gratis far and wide, to both rich and poor—but, do it quickly, or your assistance may be for ever too late.

pointing hand Those who favor me with their address (plainly written) shall receive pamphlets (free of expense) for distribution.

Evans Brothers, Printers, 44 Collins Street West, Melbourne.