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44 Breach of Sabbath by middle & lower Classes.

The offence thus committed by persons of rank against the divine commandment, and the contempt displayed by them for public opinion, at a moment of peculiar anxiety and alarm, cannot be sufficiently deplored.

If we turn to the middle and lower classes of society, we shall find, whether from the influence of example in their superiors, or from the increase of our connexion with the continent, that at no preceding period was there ever so great a number of shops open through the Sabbath-day, or such a general turn for levity and dissipation exhibited in various shapes on that day, as at the present moment. Let some peculiar duty of charity or necessity occasion the absence from morning service, of any one of my readers who is in the constant habit of attending public worship, and he will understand and feel the force of this observation, far better than it can be conveyed in terms.

The further profanation of the day by the travelling of stage-coaches, not only in and about the metropolis, but throughout the country, without any reserve, or even the forms of decency, is another practice of increasing extent; but as I have perhaps already been detained too long from my main subject, I hasten to notice it in the succeeding chapter.

The Sunday Newspaper System. 45

CHAPTER III.

Sunday Newspapers considered in reference to their religious and national Evils.

IN contemplating the general question of the profanation of the Sabbath among ourselves, there appeared to the writer of these pages to be few things which had so largely contributed to the crime of Sabbath-breaking, during the last thirty years, as the existence of the system of Sunday Newspapers; and he was accordingly induced to compress his thoughts upon the subject into a short Address, of which a copy has been sent to every Member of both Houses of the present Parliament.

The Address is given below, and it is probable that a few observations upon it, in detail, may still further elucidate its contents.

66 SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS.

"IT can hardly fail to strike the most superficial observer, that the present condition of the country presents an afflicting aspect-the principles of infidelity and irreligion on the one hand, and of disloyalty and sedition on the other, having been very generally and successfully

46 Brief Address on Sunday Newspapers.

diffused throughout the nation. In endeavouring to ascertain the origin of such a state of things, the general profanation of the Sabbath, which is now so prevalent, and which has recently been adverted to in His Majesty's Proclamation, may assuredly be ranked among the principal causes of the evils we deplore, while it is to be apprehended that nothing has had so obvious and powerful an effect in extending the violation of the Sabbath as the whole system of Sunday Newspapers: it appearing that of the papers at present published in London on the Sunday, there are circulated, on the lowest estimate, 45,000 copies, and that, upon the most moderate computation, between 2 and 300,000 readers of these papers are to be found in the metropolis alone; while the great number of pressmen, distributors, master-venders, hawkers, and subordinate agents of both sexes, and of all ages, who are necessarily employed on the Sabbath, all tend to the most flagrant breach of the day of rest.

"It must be obvious that the traffic in question, and its necessary consequences, are eminently calculated to interfere with the religious instruction which is furnished by the State, and is now intended to be more amply provided for by the erection of new Churches; many persons, both as venders and readers of these papers, being induced to absent themselves alto

Address on Sunday Papers-continued. 47

gether from public worship; while the irreligious and secular spirit, which is excited or fomented by the perusal of these papers on the day of sacred rest, tends to weaken the effect, and prevent the advantages, of religious instruction, even in those cases where it is received.

66

By means of the Sunday Newspapers, the public-houses, and other places of public resort in and about the metropolis, are enabled to present an inducement which leads to the most extensive violation of the Sabbath; while passengers are invited, by the blowing of horns, and by large posting-bills (often of the worst character and tendency), to become purchasers of these papers-evils which, although inseparably connected with their sale, have considerably tended to increase the original mischief arising from this source.

"It is, further, matter of notoriety, that many of the papers which are published on the Sunday, openly promulgate such doctrines as are inimical to the existence of all lawful authority; tend to excite resistance to such authority in every shape; and propagate, without reserve, the principles of disloyalty and sedition-and it is apprehended, that until this particular violation of the Sabbath had become so general in this professedly Christian metropolis, the doctrines of infidelity and insubordi

48 Address on Sunday Papers-continued.

nation had not become so prevalent, nor had the press, before that period, lent itself so extensively to the diffusion of sentiments calculated at once to impair the veneration which is due to the Almighty, and to weaken the allegiance which belongs to the Sovereign.

"It is presumed that, to every well-constituted mind, any attempt to prove the obligation and importance of the Sabbath, whether in a religious or political point of view, must be altogether superfluous. Such persons will scarcely require to be reminded, that a proper observance of the divine command affords the best security for the preservation of Christian morals, and of public and private happiness, while the violation of it has been the source of severe calamity both to nations and individuals.

"The principal object of every wise and paternal government being the conservation of the moral character of its people, as involving both their individual interests, and the general security, it is apprehended that no addition to the Revenue-of whatever extent-can ever counterbalance the serious injury which accrues to the nation from thus preventing the advantages of its religious institutions, and exciting a spirit of impiety, insubordination, and discontent, alike injurious to the interests of piety, and hostile to established order; and it

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