The Evening Mail. MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 415, 27 August 1877, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1877.

The opening of the Dunedin Museum on Sundays has occasioned no little tumult amongst ministers of religion in the metropolis. The consequence is that a public meeting has been held in one of the churches to protest against this " innovation of our Sunday," as Dr. Stuart is reported to have termed it. Speeches were indulged in which read very much like sermons ; for although almost every speaker professed a desire for the question of whether it was right or not for the Museum to be opened on Sunday to be passed over, nearly the whole of them entered upon the religious aspect of the matter. This, perhaps, is scarcely to be wondered at, seeing that for the most part the speakers were ministers of the Gospel. We are pleased to observe, however, that Dr. Roseby—than whom there is no more liberal-minded minister of religion in Dunedin—said he could not oppose the opening of the Museum on Sundays on the ground that there was anything sinful in such a proceeding. We thoroughly agree with the rev. gentleman in the opinion he thus expressed, and we may therefore be permitted to ask, Wherein, then, lies the necessity for all this outburst of virtuous indignation 1 If there is no i sin, no breach of the Christian faith, no transgression of the Divine commandment to keep holy the Sabbath Day, why should all this storm in a tea-pot be raised against the action of the managers of the Museum 1 The promoters of this public meeting evidently saw the weakness of their case; they were apparently convinced that on religious grounds no forcible objection to the opening of the Museum could be urged. Such being the case, a mass of extraneous and totally irrelevant matter was introduced with the view of drawing a red herring across the scent. The audience was treated to the not very dignified spectacle of a number of preachers of the Gospel standing forth as stump orators, and declaring themselves the guardians of the proud privileges of the working classes. We have them, in so many words, declaring that I

the opening of' the Museum on Sundays ■was only the insertion of the thin edge of the wedge, and that it must lead eventually to the total disregard of the Sabbath ; that the greatest of boons possessed by the working classes—that of enjoying one day's rest in the week —would be taken from them. This is just so much nonsense. The same assertions were made by the same gentlemen some two years ago when the opening on Sunday of the Athenaeum in Dunedin was agreed to. And yet what has been the result ? We challenge any one of those who then stated that it would lead to the disregard of the Sabbath to point to a single instance in which their dismal prophecies have been realised. Can any one of the zealous guardians of the Sabbath assert that there has been a falling off in the number of persons attending their churches in consequence of that "innovation on the Sunday ?" Can they say that the people of Dunedin have become one tithe less religious during those two years ? We are sure they cannot do either of these things. Since the Dunedin Athenteum was opened on Sundays the number of churches and preachers in that city have been j n . creased, while in some cases enlargements of churches have been rendered necessary. This does not bear the appearance of the Sabbath being disregarded in consequence of the Athemeum being opened on Sundays. That step has we are firmly convinced, been the means of conferring great benefits upon the people ; and the opening of the Museum on Sundays will still further add to those benefits, despite the dismal forebodings and loud exclamations of these agitators. Some of the so-oalled arguments of the speakers at the public meeting are merely bosh. The resolutions arrived at, too, are not over correct. For instance, we are told in one of them that the opening of the Museum will " lead to the further secularisation of the Lord's Day by the employment of cabs and the opening of places of refreshment." This is pure, unadulterated nonsense. To our certain knowledge nearly the whole of the cabs in Dunedin are fully employed on Sundsys at present. People will not remain in their houses during the long Sunday afternoons, though all the preachers; in Christendom should • urge them to do so. However much inclined they may be to venerate the Sabbath, they require, and will have, some slight relaxation from divine worship, and for the very lack of possessing some innocent means of passing an hour or so in a harmless manner, they resort to Sunday drives out of town and Sunday excursions. The opening of the Museum on Sundays will have a strong tendency to lessen the evil, rather than to aggravate it. An opportunity will be afforded to hundreds of people, which they otherwise would not possess, of viewing many of the most sublime works of an all-wise Creator without transgressing any of His Divine commandments.