The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-31 00:00:00

Excommunication for Sunday. Work.

On Monday the Free Church Assembly at Edin
burgh were engaged with an appeal from a judg-
ment of the inferior court's, by Mr. James Robert-
son, compositor in the Herald-office, Glasgow,'
against the Rev. R. Bremner and the Kirk Session
of Gorbals Free Church, Glasgow. The minister
and Session had refused to admit Mr. Robertson to
the Communion on account of sin in following his
ordinary labour on the Lord's-day, and in their re-
fusal they have been supported by the Presbytery of
Glasgow and the Synod of. Glasgow and Ayr. Mr.
Robertson admitted that he went to his usual la;
bourn at half-past 1 p.m, on Sundays, but pleaded
that the work was exacted from him by necessity
and social usage, and that he had his 24 hours' rest
which the Fourth Commandment enjoined by doing
no labour on the Saturdays. He also pointed to
many cases of per Sons engaged in Sunday work as
systematic as his, but whose conduct had not evoked
the discipline of the Church. His conduct was, on
the other hand, representedto be " an offence throw-
ing deliberate contempt on the law of God as well
as the law of discipline of the Church." It was also
maintained that his plea'of necessity might be
stretched to meet any case of Sabbath desecration;;
pthosaetdthneerceesswiatsynoof.nthece variesessitya of Mammon ;
.and'
all but the self-im,
that if his conduct were sanctioned by the Church
of God it could only lead to-cruelty, oppreSsion, and
wide-spread demoralisation. -.

Mr. ROBERTSON appeared Pat the bar and Stated
his case with great ability. 'He a.cknoWliidged- the
standards of the Church the of
the Decalogue, esPeciall "the 51Fourt*Conittilnd-
inent, which lie oh,: • aela
necessity for
his labour on Sundays that he rested his case,
and, going into the history of the " West-
minster Confession," he showed that the divines
who framed it were liberal in their interpretation
of such necessity. His case was commoa to thou-
sands of members of the Free Church. There was
not a servant girl in Glasgow who had greater rea-
son to complain than he had. From the morning
of Saturday to the afternoon of Sunday he was
exempted from labour, and had opportunity for re-
ligious improvement and exercise, including the
attendance of forenoon worship on Sunday, which
he esteemed and used as a great privilege. Such
domestic service might also far more easily be dis-
pensed with than a Monday newspaper. A large
number of the Herald men of different denomina-
tions enjoyed church privileges ; and why should he
be debarred ? Grooms and coachmen were not re-
fused church privileges, though they worked at their
week-day employment on Sunday ; and why should
he be debarred? And if, said the appellant, the.
matter is to be judged by the measure of necessity
or mercy involved in each case, which is the most
necessary—the publication of a newspaper, the
suppression of which, in the present constitution of
society, would paralyse the whole social, political,
and mercantile arrangements and requirements of
the community, or the baking of bread in a public
establishment, the cooking of hot dinners, and per-
formance of all the drudgery of week-day work in
a private house, or the employment of carriages and
horses, involving, too, as the last does, not only
labour by grooms and drivers, but the depriving the
horse of that Sabbatical rest which is as much en-
joined and to which it is as much entitled as we are?
My own conscience does not condemn me in the
matter. On the contrary, after the most full and
prayerful consideration, I feel that I am in the path
of duty. After adverting to the case of sailors and
other Sunday workers, who were freely admitted
as communicants, Mr. Robertson went on to say that
his true employers were not the Herald, but its many
readers, including ministers and members of the
Free Church. He also remarked that he had known
Free Kirk Ministers sending their sermons on Sun-
day night to be set up for the next morning's paper.
He reminded the Assembly that in the early days
of the Reformation the Kirk Session of Glasgow
ordered the day to be kept from sunset to sunset,
and that in New England that practice still pre-
vailed. He concluded by an appeal to the charity
and forbearance of the Assembly.
The Rev. Dr. GIBSON was heard for the Synod of
Glasgow and Ayr. He said that, so far as necessity
was concerned in this case, it was a necessity for
gain, for the appellant had left a place where he had
275. 6d. a week for the Herald, where he got 355.,
and he had refused to go back to his old place, where
there was no Sabbath labour. He, like many
others, took his rest from labour on Saturday, when
there were trains and steamboats going, and when he
could make it a holiday, and when he was under no
obligation to do otherwise ; and he did not only a
full day's work on Sunday, but a heavier day's work
than he did any other day in the week. As to do-
those other cases
do-
mestic servants, they did not, at least in religious
families, d
doay; anything
h likeregartheir
to
all ordinary work on the
Lord
to which reference had been made, it was so much
the worse if there were so many violations of the
a
Lord's-day—so much the more reason for the Church
sending out noluncertain sound in this matter. As
to the arguments about social and mercantile ar-
rangements, it was just the same as saying the laws
of trade are such that we cannot observe the laws of
honesty. The Church was asked to comply with
the requirements, and accommodate her procedure
to the world. The plea was that as the world re-
quired so and so, they must compromise the law of
God and their own testimony. The papers that did
no work on the Sabbath— notably the Daily Review
among them—were a proof that no work was required
to be done on the Sabbath-day in order to produce
a Monday morning newspaper. With regard to
charges against others, let them be clearly made, and
he would apply the same law he now applied to Mr.
Robertson. He would-do his best in isucli a case to

see that they (the Church Courts) acted in accord-
ance with the word of God and the law of the Church.
Mr. ROBERTSON, in a brief reply, said he observed
in the Daily Review that morning about a column
of Mr. Spurgeon's speech, delivered in Dr. Cand-
lish's church on Sunday forenoon. (Laughter, in
which Mr. Spurgeon, who was present, joined.)
This, said he, would give the reporters three hours'
labour—(hear, hear)—or was it done after 12 o'clock
on Sunday evening ? Suppose it was written for the
ecompositorstaken on theafter Isp2oot', and,
therefore,clock,thenotes a la must have
b
of the Fourth Commandment was committed.
(Hear.) He continued—Dr. Gibson says I have
not told the truth as to ministers and others send-
ing in manuscripts on Sunday evenings. Of course,
in such a case it is not for me to be personal—it is
more than my situation is worth—but if these gen-
tlemen are here I will allow them to speak for them-
selves. (Laughter.)
Dr. GIBSON—I think lam entitled to speak. I
never said that. I never said he did not speak the
truth. (Cries of " No, no.") I said if I found
they did it, and a case was brought before me, that
I would deal with it. (Hear.)
Several questions having been asked as to Mr.
Robertson's wages, and answered,
Mr. BALFOUR asked if Mr. Robertson knew when
he applied for a situation on the Glasgow Herald
that he would be necessitated to work on the Sab-
btiai
. RosToN—l knew- othat;— and more than
. ; 1 lin--o!Jiiitt- that/I-lit liVaxery dateone
of the tree Chnieheand- I arOkit awareia any oaf
1
of discipline having taken place. I know also that
•the ministers know that theet men are working.
2 Parties were then removed; when - ' .

Dr. CANDLISH moved that the Assimbly dismiss
the appeal and affirm the judgment appealed against,
and remit to, the Kirk Session of Free Gorbals
Church to deal with the appellant faithfully and
tenderly, instructing them to report to the Presby-
tery of Glagow before finally disposing of the case.
The rev. doctor spoke of the necessity of their firm
adherence to sound principles in these days, when
social usages were departing from their Christian,
elaraeter, and social institutions were losing the
character and conformity to the Gospel that used to
belong to them. They were dealing here with a
special ease, and not laying down a general rule for
all cases._ A great deal of irrelevant matter had been
entered upon, but the case itself was simple enough.
With regard to the Daily Review, that ease proved
that a newspaper could be conducted"without at least
a systematic violation of the Lord's-day. No doubt
a certain amount of discretion must be exercised by
the conductors Of that journal, and they were men,
and men might err; but it was of great importance
that they professed and desired to be guided by
sound principle, and by a respect for the Sabbath
law,which the Herald systernatiCally and deliberately
disregarded.

The Rev. Dr. BEGG seconded the motion, which
was unanimously agreed to by the Assembly.

Confess!on of Eight Murders in America.

Thktonfession of Antoine Probst, the murderer
bf ,
ti*Dearing family 'at-Philadelphia, has again re•
viye43he absorbing,public_ interest felt in all parts
of the country in that terrible tragedy. The I:nye—
tert'..whickhas *long hung, over it has been dis-
ppllo:l by this confession; and 'the manner in whick
Protifit managed ``to`. ei ht persons and to
successfully cOnceal,flin,,Ciitne is at length ex.-t
plaine i. •ProbitL,says he *as excited by the hopes
of,kain, and atipposed.that Dl Deiaing had money
in the house. Hg;says he would have confessed
lxisgreat crimes during the trial, but was deterred.)
Jirthe fear that the multitude a:, people who
aNeY. frlu,gi Of .Apprmil'lo_lha.cotift
would tear him to pieces. It will be remembered
that he murdered eight persons, Mr. Dearing, his
wife, and four children, Miss Dolan, a young lady
visitor at the house, and -Cornelius Carey, a hired
boy. They lived in the suburbs of the city upon a
small grazing farm, and Probst was their hired
man. After the murders he concealed all the bodies
in a small stable, where they were discovered five
days afterwards. Probst committed the murders on
April 7, when Mr. Dearing was absent in the city,
whither he had gone to bring Miss Dolan from a
steamboat landing where she was expected to arrive
that morning. Probst says he premeditated the
murders for several days, and supposed this was
a good time to put his plans into execution. He
determined to begin with Carey, a hired boy, and
for that purpose started away from the house in
company with the boy, who was driving a horse
and cart. Probst had an axe, and when they
were some 200 yards from the house, and concealed
from view by a haystack, he went behind Carey
and struck him on the head with the axe. lie
says his heart failed him before he struck the
blow, and he drew back the axe four times before
he was courageous enough to do it ; but when he
had done it he felt like a demon, and could have
killed a hundred people. Striking Carey two or
three times, and cutting his throat with the edge of
the axe, he concealed the body under the haystack,
and went towards the house to continue the bloody
work. He quickly laid his plan, which was to en-
tice the family singly into the stable and then kill
them. First, he asked the oldest boy John to come
to the stable and help him with some work, and, the
boy cheerfully obeying, Probstentruck and killed him
with the axe which he had previously placed behind
the door so as to be convenient. Cutting his throat,
and covering the body with hay, he went out and
called Mrs. Dearing, telling her to come and help
him, as something was the matter with one of the
horses. She came quickly, and as soon as she
entered he struck her, killing her instantly. Her
throat he cut too, and covered the body with hay.
He then went to the house for the other children,
and told the second son, Thomas, that his
mother wanted him at the stable. The boy ran to
the door and Probst after him, and two blows
quickly despatched him. The murderer, who seems
to have had a mania for cutting throats, cut this
little boy's throat also, and laid his body with the
others. But two children were now left, a little
girl three years old, and a babe of 14 months. His
cruelty to these helpless beings he thus tells :
"I left the axe in the same place and went to the house
and took Annie and told her her mother wanted to see her.
At the same time I took the baby on my arm and Annie
walked alongside of me to the stable. I put the baby on
tho floor on the hay and took Annie inside. Annie looked
around for her mother. [A question was here asked—' Did
she ask for her mother?' and the murderer, smiling, con-
tinued—' I was too much in a hurry to notice.'] I knocked
her down and cut her throat, and then I took the baby and
cut it ; then I took the axe and put it on the bench under
the porch, where it was always kept ; then I went to the
house and took the horse from the cart and put him in the
stable, and then went back to the house and stayed there
waiting for Mr. Dearing."

This completed six of the murders, and shortly
after noon Mr. Dearing and Miss Dolan in a waggon
reached the house. Probst had laid his plan, and
whilst Miss Dolan took off her bonnet and shawl
told Mr. Dearing that a steer was sick in the stable,
and all the family were there. Without removing
even his gloves, Mr. Dearing quickly walked to the
stable. Probst followed him with the axe, striking
him as soon as he entered the stable, knocking him
down, and killing him by giving two more blows and
cutting his throat. Putting a little hay over his
body, Probst came out after Miss Dolan. She called
to him to take the horse out of Mr. Dearing's
waggon. Ile, in reply, said Mr. Dearing wished to
see her in the stable, and that all the family were
there. She walked to the stable and he struck her
with a hammer. She fell on Mr. Dearing's body,
and Probst, to make the tragedy complete, cut her
throat too. This completed the terrible series of
murders, and of the family but one person was left
—a little boy 10 years of age—who was absent on a
visit in another part of Philadelphia. Probst, not e
in the least unnerved, says he took the horse out of