The Sabbath Question,—

One of the most keenly contested points at present between the Church and the world, is the possession of the Sabbath. In Scotland the meetings of railway directors is invariably the arena for a tough and vigorous contest. But the Sabbath has ceased to be simply a Scottish question; though, like many other momentous questions, originating there, it has crossed the Tweed, and is now a British question. The British Parliament and the City of London are now also the theatres of the conflict. Mr. Locke's Sunday Trains Bill was cast out of the House of Commons, but there is reason to fear it will be renewed. Another alarming innovation has been threatened in the Post Office Department of the Metropolis. “On Wednesday evening,” says the Christain [sic: Christian] Times, “Mr. Rowland Hill announced to the Post Office, that the Lords of the Treasury had sanctioned the arrival and departure of all the mails, in connexion with the metropolitan office on the Sabbath, and that this new arrangement would commence on Sunday, 14th October next. We learn that at present about twelve bags arrive, on the Lord's day, from the principal ports, a mail from Scotland and Ireland, and two or three foreign mails. The work thus entailed on the Post Office occupies six or seven clerks, and a few sorters and messengers, all of whom attend voluntarily. The alteration contemplated will involve the arrival of 650 bags, which will bring the bulk of the letters which at present arrive on Monday morning. This work will bring the majority of the clerks, sorters, and messengers on Sunday duty. At present, only 8,000 letters arrive on page 349 Sunday morning; by the projected plan, 200,000 will require sorting, and to be prepared for despatch by the Sunday evening mails. The whole machine will be set at work, whether there be many or few letters, and the ultimate result must be, that every postal operation will be in action, as on ordinary days. The letter-carriers will have to go their rounds, after having first officiated as sorters, and thus will the sanctity of the Sabbath be insulted by a Government Trading Establishment, while the same Government upholds a State Church!” The friends of the Sabbath were actively bestirring themselves. A general meeting of the merchants, bankers, and traders of London was called to petition against the measure, at which the Lord Mayor was to preside.