The following is a vidimus of Visitations : PRESBYTERY OF STRANRAER. Date-July. Congregation or Place. Deputies. Portpatrick, Rev. A. Urquhart,. Dr. Wood, Mr. Wells, Met with Presbytery at Stranraer, 15, morn., Stranraer, Rev. G. Charles, Sab. Sab. Sab. Sab. Cairn Ryan, Rev. J. Jamieson, Col. Davidson. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Mr. Wells, Col. David son. Dr. Wood, Mr. Wells, Mr. Wells, Col. David son. Dr. Wood, Col. David son. Dr. Wood, Mr. Wells, Col. Davidson. New Luce-a Station-Mr. John man. Glenluce, Rev. G. Wilson-Fast day. Do. Do. Do. Mr. Wells, Col. David son. Dr. Wood, Col. David son. Mr. Wells. Dr. Wood, Mr. Bal- Do. Dr. Wood, Mr. Wells, Mr. Balfour. Do. Do. Do. Do. Mr. Wells, Mr. Bal four. Dr. Wood, Mr. Wells, Mr. Balfour. PRESBYTERY OF KIRKCUDBRIGHT. Dr. Wood met with the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright on the 11th of September, was cordially received, and the Presbytery proceeded to make arrangements for the visits of the Deputation in the month of October. Mr. Rhenius, on constitutional grounds, objected to receiving the Deputation, and lodged a protest in the hands of the clerk. Dr. Wood stated that, in these circumstances, the Deputation would not visit the Tongland Congregation. The visit of the Deputies, therefore, to the Congregations in the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright took place in the month of October as follows: This finished the work of the Deputation to which they were appointed by the General Assembly. They have to thank God for His great goodness to them in it, and for the enjoyment they have derived from it. It will be seen that they visited every Congregation within the bounds of the Synod of Galloway but one. And they cannot but hope, from what they witnessed and experienced, that good, in various ways, has been done by their visit. They highly prized the Christian intercourse that it was their privilege to enjoy. They met with unbounded hospitality from ministers and others wherever they went. And one large-hearted Free Churchman in the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright made his house the head-quarters of the Deputation whilst they were in that Presbytery, and placed his carriage at their disposal, thus saving expense to the Church, besides promoting in a very high degree the comfort of the Deputies, and materially aiding them in the work in which they were engaged. To that gentleman, and to the 28 APPENDIX TO REPORT ON STATE OF RELIGION AND MORALS. NO. XIX. many others, ministers and laymen, who so kindly and practically bade them God-speed, the thanks of the Deputies are most warmly tendered. Free Church of Scotland. REPORT OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S COMMITTEE ON SABBATH OBSERVANCE. MAY 1867. YOUR Committee, in reporting again to the General Assembly, are unable to say much as to any active measures adopted by them during the past year. Their efforts have been more observational than practical. They deeply regret to find that the sanctity of the Lord's day is in various modes being encroached upon to a degree that the Church is not aware of, and that systematic efforts are now being put forth, which unless arrested, will reduce our Sabbaths to Continental models. Your Committee in their last Report adverted to the opening of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway for carrying passengers on the Sabbath. This was ostensibly done for the purpose of accommodating English travellers. It was, however, decided in a case tried before the Sheriff at Kilmarnock on the 25th of October last, that if the line was opened for passengers at all, it must not be limited to those travelling south of Carlisle, but must be available for travellers along the line. The directors, who were the defenders in that action, the Sheriff states in his decision, were under no obligation whatever to run Sunday passenger trains it was entirely in their own discretion.' The Postmaster-General had a power to compel them to carry mails on Sunday, and had exercised his power here; but there was no power by which they could be compelled to carry passengers . . . if the defenders disapproved of Sunday passenger traffic, or if, out of deference to the feelings of the people of Scotland, they wish to avoid it, they have the matter entirely in their own hands.' Notwithstanding this judgment of the Sheriff, the Company a few days thereafter gave orders to their station-masters to issue tickets to all the stations of their own line at which the trains call, with this addition, which is very meaningless, 'No tickets, however, to be issued south of Carlisle.' The danger to the preservation of the Sabbath is considerably increased on this line, from the proposal which has been made and adopted by a large majority of the shareholders for amalgamation with the Midland Railway, a large English line that is engaged in much Sabbath traffic, and will in course of time, should the amalgamation be consummated, compel our Scottish line to do the same. Your Committee regret to report, that on certain Scottish lines the Sabbath is largely employed, not only for cleaning and repairing engines, but also for traffic of various kinds. Of late, it has become the practice to make use of that day for performing many repairs on the line, and it is not an unusual sight to see twenty or thirty men as busily occupied then, at their lawful calling, as on any ordinary week day. The directors of these companies, when remonstrated with for the Sabbath desecration, shelter themselves under the plea of necessity. The openness with which such secular work is now performed is symptomatic of a sad decay of feeling, as regards the sacredness of that day. It is truly painful to witness that the railway system, which has now become the great carrier system of our country, is to so great an extent a Sabbath desecrating one, and as such we cannot expect that the Divine blessing will rest upon it. Without attempting to pass a judgment on providential issues, may we not put the question, Have the present ruinous embarrassments of some large lines of railway, and the depreciation in value of railway stock in general, nothing to do with the displeasure of the Lord of the Sabbath? Your Committee feel assured, that all these encroachments on the Sabbath act very detrimentally on the character of railway servants. They observe, with great sorrow, that so many of these meetings which have been lately held by engine-drivers and others for obtaining a limitation of the hours of labour, and a regulation of wages, were on the Lord's day. So systematic a desecration of what is sacred cannot but be fearfully injurious to the moral nature of those engaged in it. Were your Committee at liberty, they could furnish melancholy cases illustrative of this from the class of railway servants. Your Committee have learned from inquiry, that the systematic sailing of vessels on the Saturday from one port to another in this country, or to foreign ports, is by no means diminished. This practice is very hurtful to our sailors, many of whom never enter the house of God, and have few or no religious privileges on the sea; and it is no less so to their families, who never know what |