Transcribed from the [1853?] Arthur Hall, Virtue, & Co.edition ,
THE
PEOPLE’S PALACE
AND THE
RELIGIOUS WORLD;
OR,
THOUGHTS ONPUBLIC AGITATION AGAINST THE PROMISED
CHARTER TO THE NEW CRYSTAL PALACECOMPANY,
AND ON “SABBATHDESECRATION.”
BY
A LAYMAN.
“THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN, NOT MAN FORTHE SABBATH.”
Mark ii. 27.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY
ARTHUR HALL, VIRTUE, & CO., 25, PATERNOSTER ROW,
p.3INTRODUCTION.
Disagreement with the object anddislike of the tone of the incipient agitation for preventing theconcession of a Royal Charter to the Crystal Palace Company,except upon the condition of its gates being closed onSunday—a desire to vindicate the consistency of manyreligious people, whose silence might be construed into sympathywith the movement—and the wish to offer a few thoughts onthe impolicy, in a religious point of view, of such attacks onthe pleasures of the poor:—are, in brief, the motives whichhave determined the printing of the following pages. TheWriter believes the ground traversed is firm and solid, though heis unable to beguile the journey with those flowers of rhetoricand gleams of warm fancy with which more gifted writers canbrighten their course. Though inexperience in book-makingand pamphleteering is no excuse for unsound conclusions, he hopesit may avail to disarm the severity of criticism. Convincedthat for the advantage of true religion, as well as itsprofessors, the ideas he has broached require to be freely,closely, and sincerely discussed, he ventures to claim for themcandid and unprejudiced consideration. He hopes it issuperfluous to state that he has no pecuniary interest in, norconnexion with, the project in question.
p. 5THEPEOPLE’S PALACE,
&c. &c.
Shall the new Crystal Palace beopen on Sunday? This question is exciting a good deal ofattention—especially in the religious world, and is likelyto attract more, ere finally set at rest. It is a questionof magnitude, and possibly of political importance. Itbecomes, therefore, the duty of all who feel interested in itssolution, to ascertain clearly the facts upon which it is based,the principles with which it is bound up, and the consequenceswhich will flow from its decision. The occasion seems tohave been seized upon by what may be called the Sabbatarianparty, to make a determined stand on behalf of the principle forwhich they have often fought and been vanquished—the rightof the religious world to impose their notions of Sabbathobservance upon the community at large. The particularpoint at issue may be readily decided by any unbiassed mind, onexamination of the actual facts. But the Sabbatariansrefuse to be bound down to the case as it stands. Theyexa