verance, which, by the blessing of God, have been largely instrumental to the removal of many of the evils of which the Church has had reason to complain, which have called forth the approbation of former Assemblies, and by which the Church has been laid under the deepest obligations to her great Lord and Head.

"The General Assembly acknowledge the hand of God in removing His servant at such a time, in the midst of his usefulness, and in the prime of his days; and while they say 'It is the Lord,' they at the same time desire to receive the lesson which it teaches,' Cease from man,' seeking that they may be enabled to trust more entirely in Him who regulates all the affairs of His Church with unerring wisdom, and who never fails to do for his people what is best for them, as well as most fitted to promote his own glory."

It was unanimously agreed to record the above in the minutes of the Assembly. CLASSING RETURNS TO OVERTURES.

The Assembly, on the Report of the Committee for Classing Returns to Overtures, re-committed the overture and interim act on translations to the Committee, to bring up an amended overture to a future diet of the Assembly, with a view to its being transmitted to Presbyteries.

The Assembly then ordered the Report of the Committee, in so far as respects Act xvi. of last Assembly, which has been approved of by forty-eight Presbyteries, to lie on the table till a future diet. On the Report of the Committee that several irregularities in the manner of making returns to overtures had come under their notice, the Assembly, on their recommendation, agree to pass the following standing order, and direct it to be inserted among the printed acts:

"Presbyterial returns on overtures shall consist of certified extracts from the mi.nutes of Presbytery, and a separate leaf of paper shall be used for the return on each overture sent down by the Assembly."

The Assembly remitted the overtures on the Evangelization of Ireland to the Committee formerly appointed in reference to the subject, and adjourned about one o'clock.

SATURDAY, MAY 27. 1848.

Report of Sabbath Observance Committee-Speeches of Mr Davidson, Mr Nixon, Mr Campbell, Mr Lyon, Mr M. Crichton, Mr Duncan, and Mr Gibson-Report of Manse CommitteeSpeeches of Mr Paul, Dr M'Farlan, Dr Buchanan, Dr Candlish, and Mr Dow-Case of Mr Anderson of Old Machar-Speeches of Mr Anderson, Mr Murray, Mr Simpson, Dr Candlish, and Dr Cunningham-Case of Mr Mackenzie.

The Assembly met to-day at half past ten o'clock, and was constituted as usual with devotional exercises.

REPORT OF SABBATH OBSERVANCE COMMITTEE.

Mr G. R. DAVIDSON, Convener, said-In introducing the subject of Sabbath Observance to the General Assembly, I do not need, I am sure, to dwell upon its importance; nor, when we look to the encroachments which are made upon the hallowed rest of the Sabbath day in our time, and contrast these with what every Christian man would desire to witness, need there be any wonder that we should have been anxious that every prominence should be given to this department of the Assembly's Schemes, and due time afforded for a public and thorough expression of this Church's sentiments upon that subject. No one who sees what is passing in our day, and who knows anything of the amount of the temptation which is put in the way especially of the youth of our land at this time, can for a moment call in question the solemn importance of this matter, and the necessity of the Church giving forth a decided expression in regard to it. Knowing the lateness of the period at which this Report has been called for, and the pressure of business which is before the Assembly, I shall not read the Report which I have in my hand, but shall endeavour to gather up as well as I can the various heads which it embraces, leaving the Report to stand for itself, as it will,

doubtless, hereafter be placed in the hands of all the members. Mr Davidson accordingly went over the various branches of the subject embraced in his Report, dividing them into two general heads, viz., the discouragements which presented themselves on the one hand, and those features which were encouraging on the other. He pointed to the Caledonian, and Edinburgh and Northren Railway Companies as belonging to the former, and paid a merited compliment to the Scottish Central Company as one which, having also been opened since last Assembly, was wisely and properly acting a part which brought it under the latter. He next adverted to the Post Office, and to the wholesale nature of its Sabbath desecrations, and brought forward such statistics as to its actings, as could not fail to impress the house with a sense of the importance of reform in this department of the public service; and called upon the Assembly, before its rising, to petition Parliament upon this subject. He then took up the present state of the licensing system, which allowed the opening of public-houses and dram-shops on the Sabbath day, and presenting a picture of the disastrous effects resulting from this system, and called upon the Assembly in like manner to petition Parliament upon this revolting grievance, painful, as he remarked, not less to the patriot than to every Christian philanthropist. Among the encouraging features embraced in the Report, the Convener noticed in special the Working Men's Sabbath Observance Associations, and other Young Men's Associations, and begged to lay on the table of the Assembly a memorial with which he had been entrusted from the General Young Men's Sabbath Observance Association of Edinburgh. He noticed the interesting fact, that when prizes had lately been offered for the best essays on the subject of the Sabbath, to be written by working men, no fewer than 940 essays had been given in; and his brethren must have observed in a communication which had appeared in the public journals the other day, with much gratification, the high character which had been given of these essays generally, though they were not prepared, from their very number, as well as general excellence, to award the prizes for some time to come. Having called the Assembly's attention to these head branches of the Committee's Report, Mr Davidson followed up the same by a solemn and earnest appeal to the Assembly, no more to content.itself with an expression of its sense of the Church's and the country's sense of existing grievances on the matter of Sabbath desecration, however powerful and plaintive that might be, but for its own sake, as well as for Europe's sake in its present agitated and convulsive state, to give forth a testimony of a more positive kind,-not expressive simply of grievances, but declaring what in this Church's estimation it considers right Sabbath observance really to be. It is, said he, and has always been, most painful to me, and I doubt not to many others who have been associated with me in this great cause, to think of the manner in which we have been compelled to advocate that cause. I mean that, instead of getting at once into the heart and soul of the matter,-inculcating and showing to our people the holy beauties and the sweet and heavenly attractions of a spiritual Sabbath, we have been kept always at the outposts,-called to defend the whole integral institution itself against the bold and daring attacks of an ungodly kind which in our day are being made upon it. I regard this as an unhappy position, inasmuch as it has forced us to plead the cause too much upon mere matter of detail,-it has led us to contend for this positive injunction and that positive injunction, as if compliance with them exhausted the whole spirit and obligation of the Sabbath law, whereas even though we had attained to all that, and not a coach were to be seen, nor a railway to be open, nor a spirit shop to vend its soul-destroying fare on that day, we should only then be entering upon our right position in our advocacy of the Sabbath, -we should be but about to take our first step, as it were, into the holy and sacred domain; and never till standing within sweet recesses of that domain itself, and, working outward, can we do that justice to the question or to ourselves which either it deserves or we desire. We are but occupying the tower of Antonia, instead of standing, as is our right position, upon the holy watchtowers of the spiritual Zion. Mr Davidson, in conclusion, referred particularly to the closing paragraphs of the Report of the Committee, which adverted to the testimony which is now demanded of the Church to make. The following is the Report at length:

"The Sabbath Observance Committee, more impressed than ever with a sense of the importance of that department of the Church's schemes wherewith they have been intrusted, and of the mighty influence for good which the General Assembly may at this time be honoured of God to exercise, not only in this Church and throughout the land, but more extensively still, have agreed to present the following Report. In

"That Report, as might be expected, is necessarily of a mixed character. the present state of the Sabbath Question and the Sabbath practice, there is not a little to humble and much to deplore, and there is also something to encourage and to animate.

"The railways and railway companies, as formerly, have occupied the largest share of the attention of your Committee, and various memorials, and under various circumstances, have been addressed to them.

"Three great lines have been opened since last Assembly. Of these, the Caledonian Company and the Edinburgh and Northern, they are grieved to say, along with the North British, run passenger trains upon the Sabbath day. On the other hand, it is gratifying to know that the Scottish Central, the great trunk line of Scotland,-following the example of the Edinburgh and Glasgow, and other railway companies, has done honour to itself in respecting the Sabbath by running no trains on that day.

"So boldly, indeed are the Sabbath desecrating companies plying their work on the Lord's day, that your Committee has reason to think that that very boldness has been the means of calling forth considerable reaction in the public mind; and they trust that a new spirit has begun to be evinced in behalf of the Sabbath cause, and leading to the adoption of measures more extensive and combined than before, for meeting, and, with God's help, aiding to put down that and other systems of Sabbath desecration.

"One very interesting feature they cannot help regarding as particularly gratifying, namely, that for the prize lately offered to the working classes throughout Britain for the best essay on the Sabbath by an individual of that order, upwards of 950 essays have been given in to the appointed adjudicators. Indeed, your Committee have seen with much satisfaction an increased interest generally felt among the trades and working classes, and that working men's associations have been formed in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and other towns, in which they trust and believe that sound practical views of the importance of the Sabbath rest to that portion of the community especially will be maintained and propagated. This they cannot but regard with peculiar satisfaction. It shows, that notwithstanding that spurious philanthrophy which has busied itself in seeking out modes of recreation and diversion for these classes on the Sabbath day, they themselves are wiser and sounder than their would-be friends and patrons, and that they know and approve a more excellent way.'

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66 Young men's Sabbath observance associations have also been formed, some general and some congregational, which promise to be very useful auxiliaries for promoting the Sabbath cause, and particularly in the way of getting up statistical information, or carrying out any territorial or other movement which requires promptitude and expedition; and the Committee hope that the General Assembly will recommend and encourage the formation of such associations in congregations.

"Your Committee further report, that they have also memorialised the Postmaster-General on the Sabbath desecration now in practice at the Post-Office, and which threatens to be extended in that department of the public service; and here it may be proper to put the Assembly in possession of some of the statistics connected with this department of public service. Persons employed within the Post-Office in Scotland amounted to 1000, of whom three-fourths, or 750, are employed on the Sabbath day. Of clerks within the Post-Office all or nearly so are employed on that day. Of letter-carriers from house to house in Scotland there are 700; of these about three-fourths, or 525 are employed on that day. Riders and runners are 500 in number; all of those ride and run on the Sabbath day. This of course is exclusive of the multitudes employed on the railways and otherwise, for conveying the mails on the Sabbath. Convinced

as your Committee are of the evil influence which emanates from the violation of the Lord's day in this quarter, and the temptation and excuse which it holds out to other parties to append their forms of Sabbath desecration to it, they would strenuously recommend that the General Assembly would immediately petition Parliament on the Sabbath desecration in the Post-Office.

"Another deplorable method of Sabbath desecration, and one which is a source of other enormities, is the opening of dram-shops and public-houses for the sale of spirits, on the Lord's day. The present system of licensing under which such practice is permitted cannot be too strongly reprobated, and your Committee would earnestly recommend that the General Assembly should petition Parliament also upon the subject, and against all other such work and traffic on the Sabbath day.

"Your Committee would again remind the General Assembly of the necessity of this Church as a Church directing her attention particularly to the principles and habits of her own members, to guard them with the utmost solicitude and watchful jealousy, and take every means to maintain and promote right views and a godly practice in them, and as also to check promptly and tenderly whatever seems not agreeable thereunto. Nor can your Committee at this time withhold from remarking what is passing on the Continent of Europe, where the day which Almighty God commanded to be kept holy has generally been neglected and trampled upon, or, where observed, it has been as a festival, or as a matter of ecclesiastical appointment rather than as an act of homage to the Lord of the Sabbath; and now the distraction and revolutionary movement passing over these very countries seem as if intended, among other purposes, to say in effect, Yet have I set my king on the holy hill of Zion;' and if ever there was a time when the setting forth of the morality of the law of the Sabbath, and of Christ as Lord of his own day, was more imperative than at other times, this seems to be that season; and in existing circumstances your Committee would especially urge on the attention of the Church the importance of giving a testimony to all Europe as to the authority of the Sabbath as truly and practically, as well as in name,' the Lord's day,' recognising therein Christ as the risen and reigning Saviour, claiming dominion over all, for no act of homage done to Him as such can be more palpable than that of keeping holy the day which He claims as His own. Much has already been well said and done regarding the moral grounds of the fourth commandment, and its binding obligations as the rule of life, which the Church ever regards as the abiding foundation; but it seems likewise to be due to the honour of the Redeemer as claiming to Himself this act of homage, due also to the intimations of Divine Providence at this eventful time, and due to the Church fully and unequivocally to declare that the due observance of the Lord's day ought to be regarded as bound up in our character as Christians, and that all wilful and unnecessary labour or profanation of any kind, knowingly, systematically, and perseveringly committed on that holy day, ought to be declared by this Assembly to be both transgressive of the law of God, and virtually rebellion against the Lord's anointed,' as if the transgressors really meant to say, 'we will not have this man to reign over us.' These principles are generally recognised in the doctrines of scriptural standards of the Church of Scotland, and are in consonance with all Scripture. It is earnestly prayed, therefore, that the Assembly may enjoin so as to revive them, and give unto them full and practical effect.

"That, with these views, the Church should not only say to her ministers, preach instantly, pray habitually and earnestly upon the subject, and be prepared to 'reprove and rebuke with all authority,' but that she should resume the charges addressed to all her office-bearers in the deliverance on the Sabbath Report of last year, giving forth such expressions upon this head as shall be at once quickening and encouraging to all within her pale, pledging them to do what in them lies, both by personal and combined effort, by example and by prayer, to help forward this great work, to the glory of God, and the best interests of this Church, and nation.

"That convinced, moreover, that the time is come when, in order to return to right views generally, and to a godly practice in this matter, the reform must be

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radical and universal, reaching not only persons and societies, but embracing, also, every department of social and domestic life; that is, let every man be exhorted to examine into his own personal actings,-let every head of a family be persuaded to inquire into the particulars of his own domestic economy and arrangement, and see if there be not some hindrance, everywhere something standing in need of reform,-it may be, some unnecessary household work, or something wanted to make the Sabbath both to himself and household, not only a well-observed, but, moreover, a sweet and sanctified Sabbath; and that it have a place also in the petitions put up at the family altar; that every effort made in this behalf may be blessed, and that Almighty God may not take away from this land her hallowed Sabbath.

"Your Committee, finally, and above all, while desiring that the Church would relax no effort which she has hitherto made for the suppression of Sabbath desecration, but continue to keep a watchful eye upon every encroachment upon the day of sacred rest, would now specially and earnestly entreat her not to rest content with this, but that she would assume upon this question a still more positive and elevating position; and that, not confining her exertions to the upholding of a protective and defensive system, she would also bring out fully what she understands right Sabbath observance to be, to the encouragement and refreshing of all godly and right-hearted men; and that, considering especially the conspicuous place which she occupies,-the remarkable way in which God has brought her into this position of eminent responsibility, and believing that He has placed her there for great purposes connected with his own glory and the glory of her living Head, for whom she has been made willing to suffer loss,that it becomes her to lift up, as in the days of old, a holy testimony in regard to this as well as every other part of Goa's truth, to maintaining of the full benefit thereof to her people; and, seeing, particularly, how God has honoured her in time past, in the testimony she has been made to bear in relation to this very subject of Sabbath sanctification, historically, throughout every period of the past, that it becomes her with particular emphasis to renew her testimony at this time, to assert the claims of Christ as the only Head of the Church, to the undisturbed service of his own day for the refreshing of their own souls, and as an act of homage to His supreme will and authority; and this itself, not only before this nation, but before the world, what the holy keeping of the fourth commandment, and what the true observance of the Lord's day really implies.' The CLERK then read an overture on same subject from the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr.

Mr NIXON of Montrose said,-The Sabbath, to which this motion refers, is unknown in the greater part of the earth. Even within the pale of Christendom, France, as the head of the Continental nations, and giving the tone to them, is turning the Sabbath into a day of political movements, temporal works, and carnal festivities, utterly subversive of the purposes for which God has set it apart. (Hear.) Insomuch is this the case, that, as I believe the Bible, I must believe that either that guilty nation will be brought to repentance for its sin in this as in other matters, or it must plunge onward and downward in the course on which it has entered, until it has perished beneath the anger of God. (Hear, hear.) Scotland is the only land in which something like due respect is outwardly offered to this holy day. We have, indeed, in the united kingdom, and even in this portion of it, a strange combination against the Sabbath's sacredness. We have Irish priests and Irish politicians treating it as they treat it in infidel France. Then we have British criminals who, for the most part, have to confess that their Sabbath desecrations were the beginning of their career of crime. We have English mobs meeting on this holy day to proclaim their grievances, and seek redress, and so placing themselves at the commencement of their movements, beyond God's blessing And in strange combination with these classes of Sabbath-desecrators, we have railway proprietors openly defying its obligations, and determined to turn it into a day of pleasure to all whom they can tempt, and of gain to themselves. (Applause.) I am sorry to add that the Government of the country is still keeping these parties in countenance, and keeping up from day to day this national sin, in its most destructive form. (Hear.) Among ourselves, the Sabbath is still desecrated by multitudes of professing Christians.