Transcriber's notes: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. * * * * * THE SABBATH. 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. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG & SON. PREFATORY NOTE BY REV. J. C. RYLE. I have been requested, as an English Clergyman, to preface Dr A. Thomson's valuable paper on the Scottish Sabbath by a few recommendatory words. I comply with the request with much pleasure, though I feel that the paper needs no _imprimatur_ of mine. I am sensible, however, that there exists a certain amount of prejudice in many English minds against Scottish views of the Sabbath question. Too many Christians south of the Tweed are in the habit of regarding our northern brethren as "legal," "Judaizing," and "extreme" upon this subject. In the matter of all the leading Evangelical doctrines, they profess to admire their statements. In the matter of the Sabbath question, they say the Scotch "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 decision without any reasonable foundation. I believe that Scottish views of the Sabbath 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, Scotland has nothing to be ashamed of in her principles, and England has much to learn. I can only say that the paper which I have undertaken to preface appears to me to deserve a wide circulation and an attentive perusal. That it is written in a Scotch style, and is consequently not so well suited to our uneducated classes as a more popular and less argumentative production, are facts which I do not pretend to deny. But there are myriads of hard-headed, thinking English readers in the middle and upper sections of the lower classes--myriads of tradesmen in our great cities, and assistants in our great houses of business, to whom I think this paper is eminently calculated to be useful. It is to them that I heartily commend it.