A PAPER
READ AT THE
CONFERENCE OF THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE,
HELD AT GENEVA, SEPTEMBER 2. 1861.
BY ANDREW THOMSON, D.D.,
EDINBURGH.
WITH PREFACE BY
THE REV J. C. RYLE, B.A., Christ Ch., Oxford,
STRADBROKE, SUFFOLK.
430th Thousand.
LONDON:
JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
EDINBURGH: ANDREW ELLIOT, 15 PRINCE'S STREET.
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1863.[2]
EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG & SON.[3]
I have been requested, as an English Clergyman, to preface Dr A.Thomson's valuable paper on the Scottish Sabbath by a few recommendatorywords. I comply with the request with much pleasure, though I feel thatthe paper needs no imprimatur of mine.
I am sensible, however, that there exists a certain amount of prejudicein many English minds against Scottish views of the Sabbath question. Toomany Christians south of the Tweed are in the habit of regarding our northernbrethren as "legal," "Judaizing," and "extreme" upon this subject. Inthe matter of all the leading Evangelical doctrines, they profess to admiretheir statements. In the matter of the Sabbath question, they say theScotch "go too far."
I venture to think that this prejudice is not just. It is in fact a thorough"prejudice," a judgment passed without examination, a prejudged decisionwithout any reasonable foundation. I believe that Scottish views of theSabbath are scriptural, reasonable, and practical. As a proof of my assertion,I earnestly request the attention of English Christians to the following paper.My own firm conviction is, that, in the matter of Sabbath observance, Scotlandhas nothing to be ashamed of in her principles, and England has muchto learn.
I can only say that the paper which I have undertaken to preface appearsto me to deserve a wide circulation and an attentive perusal. That it iswritten in a Scotch style, and is consequently not so well suited to our uneducatedclasses as a more popular and less argumentative production, are factswhich I do not pretend to deny. But there are myriads of hard-headed,thinking English readers in the middle and upper sections of the lowerclasses—myriads of tradesmen in our great cities, and assistants in our greathouses of business, to whom I think this paper is eminently calculated to beuseful. It is to them that I heartily commend it.
"My heart's desire and prayer to God" is now, and ever shall be, that Hewill bless this and every kindred effort to maintain the holiness of God's day,and to raise higher the standard of Sabbath observance. The subject is intimatelyconnected with the best interests of the British churches and theBritish nation. From a Continental Sabbath may Great Britain ever bedelivered! There is but a gradual descent, after all, from "No Sabbath" to"No God."
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