Transcribed from the [1853?] Arthur Hall, Virtue, & Co.edition , using scans fromthe British Library.
THE
SABBATH, THE CRYSTAL PALACE,
AND THE PEOPLE.
“GO YE, AND LEARN WHAT THATMEANETH, I WILL
HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE.”
BY
JAMES BALDWIN BROWN, A.B.,
MINISTER OF CLAYLANDS CHAPEL,LONDON.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY
ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE, & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLIII.
Price Sixpence.
p. 3THESABBATH, THE CRYSTAL PALACE, AND THE PEOPLE.
The relation between the Church ofChrist and human society has long been ill-defined andunsettled. The Church has to present to society, in itsstruggles and sufferings, an aspect in which the kindliness ofhuman sympathy and interest is blent with the severity of truth;and this is always difficult. Between worldly complianceson the one hand, and bigoted formalities on the other, it is hardto strike the mean. Between the two extremes the Church isprone to alternate. This question,—“The openingof the Crystal Palace during a portion of the Lord’sDay,” demands the statement of the feeling and thought ofthe Church upon this subject at the present time. Thespirit of a party is quite as significant as its acts andexpressions, for that spirit is a living fountain, out of whichother acts and feelings will flow forth; and as the utterance ofthe mind of the Church upon this great question will probablydetermine the character of its relation to, and influence on p. 4society forsome years to come, we should watch most carefully, not over ourwords and deeds only, but over the spirit in which we addressourselves to this discussion. We must be prepared either toreform or re-affirm our first principles, as to the relationbetween the Church and the human world—for this is,emphatically, a question of first principles; it has been dealtwith too much in detail; we must look to the foundations if wewould settle it aright. Nor is it a matter of merely casualand momentary importance to which party we attach ourselves, andwhat cry we raise. The party will do more work on uspersonally than we shall do for the party. It is possible(it has been so before, it may be so again) that we may be takingfor ourselves and for the Church many backward steps, by joiningourselves unthinkingly to those who, whether right or wrong,certainly are most loud and dogmatic in their tone. It ispossible, that by calmly taking our stand on a principle whichhas but few supporters, we may find ourselves, though we appearto stand alone on earth, in holy fellowship with the clear-eyedwatchers of all earth’s transactions, who bend overheaven’s blue cope to regard us, and with the God of truthand love. Therefore let us watch and pray while wethoughtfully consider this question, for it is a solemn matter,and affects the weal of the Church and the world, and our ownwith them, far more deeply than at firs