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The real Point in Debate

day of Saturday, without interfering in any degree with the Sabbath? Here, then, is another question begged, viz. that the Monday's Paper must be prepared on the Sabbath, and this for the purpose of shewing that the Petitioners against Sunday Papers ought also to have petitioned against Monday Papers being printed on the Sabbath: but unless it can be shewn that there is a physical necessity for working on the Sabbath, in order to supply the wants of Monday, there could have been no moral obligation on the Petitioners to encumber their case with any such irrelevant matter. 3dly, The great scandal against which these Petitioners, and the country at large, are raising their voices, is the distribution and diffusion of secular politics on the day of sacred rest, to the destruction of all devotional feeling in most cases, and of public worship itself, in many. Not all the printing of the Monday Papers on the Sabbath, even if it must necessarily take place (which necessity, however, is respectfully denied), can at all be compared with so flagrant an evil as the open and public profanation of the Sabbath, which is effected by the dispersion of the Sunday Papers; nor ought such a consideration to have the effect of diverting our attention for a moment from what is the gist of the Petitioners' case, and the gravamen of their com

divested of extrinsic Matter.

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plaint. Let no man-much less any Christian. man-permit his eyes to be taken off from the real evil in question, by points of comparatively secondary importance, which have little or nothing to do with the business in hand. Let it be even, for the sake of argument, admitted that the Monday Editors are in fault, how does this excuse the Sunday Editors? In no way, unless it can be shewn, that in establishing a minor crime against one offender, we exculpate or justify a greater crime in another offender. The offences, although of the same class, are essentially distinct; and the attempt to incorporate them is illogically to confuse a simple argument by the introduction of matter with which it is unconnected.

I trust it will not be considered, that I have examined too freely the arguments with which the Petition of the Newsmen was met in the House of Lords; and I am induced to hope, that I shall be excused, even by the lastmentioned Nobleman, whose observations I have more particularly considered, since he concluded those remarks by a declaration, that his "sober wish was, that the matter of the "Petition should be well canvassed." The writer intends no frivolous compliment when he expresses his conviction, that there is no one in that illustrious House whose opinions are more worthy of the most respectful attention.

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Appeal to all professing Christians.

CHAPTER V.

Appeal to all professing Christians.

I CONCLUDE by earnestly appealing to "all "who call themselves Christians," to reflect on the moral and political consequences of Sunday Newspapers, and not to rest until, by their public and private exertions, they shall have removed this reproach from a Christian land.

The Members of the Establishment, in particular, can, and may, do much in this cause. With what consistency can any man of professedly orthodox principles, whether in religion or politics, encourage such a system by taking in, and suffering his family to read, a Sunday Newspaper? Let him review the arguments which have been adduced, and he will surely see cause to abandon a practice which must soon cease to exist, if the public could be induced to feel aright upon its nature and consequences.

Let the Magistracy, in particular, consider the scandal of promoting the violation of the Sabbath by their own example and influence, and they will be no longer obliged to submit to the affront which a police magistrate not long since experienced, when, on an information

Appeal to Professor's continued. 127

being laid before him against a person for selling pamphlets on the Sabbath, he was reminded by the party accused, that he himself took in the Sunday Newspaper!

Let those persons (above all) who make any more particular profession of religion than the generality of mankind, consider the gross and palpable contradiction which exists between their profession and their practice, if they can consent to encourage such a traffic as this. If any argument were wanting of the possibility of self-deception, and of the frequency of a formal, worldly, and hypocritical spirit, I apprehend it would be found in the awful fact, of a professor of religion venturing to meddle with such "pitch" as this, and still hoping, perhaps believing, that he is not "defiled." It is possible that many may be offended by such "plainness of speech" as this; but can any writer, who feels for the honour of his Master, and the credit of religion, consent to speak smooth things to any single individual, who, professing to serve and love God, commits, notwithstanding, on every succeeding Sabbath, so plain an offence against an express commandment, to the peril of his own soul, and the souls of all who are thus engaged by his money and example to continue in such an unhallowed occupation? Is it possible that any man who would be even thought a Christian,

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Dissenters appealed to.

can deliberately put the inconsiderable gratification of his Sabbath politics and news, in competition with the best interests, perhaps with the salvation, of his fellow-creatures?

I am persuaded that the ministers of the Gospel, both in and out of the Establishment, would do well to lift up their voice more pointedly on this occasion. Is it conceivable, that the Barrows, Sherlocks, and Tillotsons, or the Doddridges, Flavels, and Baxters of a former age, would have endured such a state of things as we have lived to witness, without a public, and may I not add, an effectual protest against such an abomination? With regard to Dissenters in particular, they have surely less excuse than their brethren of the Establishment, for conniving at the spirit of the world, in this particular, since their very profession, if it mean any thing, does more or less imply greater practical seriousness and strictness, than are ordinarily supposed to fall to the share of a regular establishment-the necessary presumption which a separation involves, being, that if the regular and prescribed forms of religion observed in that Establishment, had been deemed by Separatists sufficient for the cultivation and conservation of vital godliness, they would not unnecessarily have departed from its pale.