Communions.—St. Jude’s and John Knox’s, Glasgow, second Sabbath of this month; Edinburgh, third; Wick and Greenock, fourth.
Church News.—The Northern Presbytery met at Portree, on 10th March, the Rev. Alexander Macrae, moderator. The Rev. Neil Cameron, Glasgow, was associated, as was also the Rev. W. Scott, Australia. A resolution of sympathy with the Free Presbyterian Church in Australia, as represented by Mr. Scott, was adopted, and the clerk (Rev. D. Macfarlane), was instructed to furnish Mr. Scott with a letter to this effect. . . . Mr. Scott has kindly handed a donation of £4 from the Mission Sabbath Schools in connection with his Congregation, to be applied to the Foreign Mission Fund of our Church. The gift is much appreciated as coming from Free Presbyterian children in far-off Australia. . . . The attendances at the recent Communion at Portree were exceptionally large, there being large overflow meetings in the public school.
The late Duncan Macdonald.—A correspondent from Toberonochy, Island of Luing, has written us in regard to the late Duncan Macdonald, missionary, as follows:—”He laboured amongst us here for a period of over four years, during which he made many friends, who hear of his death with much sorrow. I feel I cannot refrain from writing to say how highly he was esteemed, and how faithfully he served his Master. On Sabbath and week-nights, he walked four miles, often through wind and rain to hold his meetings in this village, and seldom, if ever, he missed a night. As a Gaelic preacher he was second to none we heard before or since. A verse from one of Dr. Macdonald’s poems fully expresses what we thought, viz. :—
“Co luath ’se a dh’ fhosgaileadh e a bheul
Chum soisgeul Chriosd a chur an ceill,
An aite leanaban deanadh sgeil
‘Se theireadh ’n treud gu’m b’Athair e.”
Though it is eight or more years since he left, we remember many of his discourses, as well as if we had heard them yesterday. We sorrow not as others who have no hope, believing he has gone to his everlasting rest. We deeply sympathise with his family and friends in their bereavement.—Yours, etc., DUNCAN M’COWAN.”
Spain’s Decay.—The following quotation we take from the French Protestant paper, entitled Le Chretien Francaise—”An illustrated leaflet published in Berlin, and entitled, For Everybody, indicates by the lively representation which follows, how Spain has been losing its territories since the destruction of the Invincible Armada :—
| [ ] | – | – | 1588 |
|—–|—|—|——|
| [ ] | – | – | 1668 |
| [ ] | – | – | 1715 |
| [ ] | – | – | 1828 |
| [ ] | – | – | 1898 |
From 1588 to 1668 Spain lost Holland, Rousillon, French Flanders, Tunis, Jamaica, Portugal, the Azores, South Guinea, the Cape, Mozambique, Ceylon, Malacca, the Moluques, and Brazil. From 1668 to 1715 it lost the province of Franche Comte, Belgium, Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Gibraltar, Guyane, and the little Antilles. From 1715 to 1828, it lost Florida, Texas, California, Mexico, Central America, Haiti, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Chili, the country of La Plata, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Oran. From 1828 to 1898 it lost Cuba, Porto-Rico, the Philippine, Caroline, and Marian Islands. The real cause of that political and intellectual decay is named—The holy office of the very holy Inquisition.“
Is it not time Britain were laying this to heart?
Sabbath Opening of Edinburgh Museum.—A meeting for the purpose of opposing the opening of the Museum of Science and Art on Sabbath in Edinburgh, was held in the Assembly Hall there on Monday evening, 18th March. Sir Archibald Campbell, Bart., presided. A number of apologies from leading Church dignitaries, who, in our opinion, ought to have been present, were read. The Chairman said that at one time he did not see the necessity for strictness on the Sabbath question, but during recent years he had come to see matters in a different light. Rev. Dr. Robson said he had been at Paris, and there a Congress had been held, representing all classes and religious denominations, with the object of getting the Sabbath rest restored in France, that had been lost; while he saw that, in this country, many did not seem to value it when they had it. Bailie Brown made an eloquent speech, in which he pressed the question—Who it was that asked the Scottish Education Department of the Government to open the Museum on the Lord’s Day? It was certainly nobody representing the inhabitants of Edinburgh. Rev. Dr. Cunningham
gave a vivid description of the impressions felt by foreigners who visited this country, and saw the respect in which the Sabbath was held. It produced a profound impression on many of them as to the importance of the Sabbath. Other speakers followed. Resolutions were passed urging the Education Department to reconsider their decision in regard to the Museum. There was an attendance of 600 or so at the meeting.
The report here given is only a jotting of what was spoken. The meeting was on the whole a good one, yet we had the feeling that the speakers were not taking high enough ground in respect to the authority of the Lord’s-Day. Its utility as a day of rest was too prominently in evidence, while the divine sanction of the Sabbath was but slightly emphasised. This, of course, is just what matters have come to in our country. Our strongest tie to the Sabbath is our own personal advantage of relief from labour. Now all who discern the real glory of the day of rest, feel that there is an imperative divine obligation on them to keep it as a day in which to worship God as well as to refresh their bodies. It is the day on which souls may expect to enter into that spiritual and holy rest the Lord alone can give. May the Lord in mercy check the downward career of our rulers in this matter, or we will soon have “the Parisian Sunday” with all its horrors; it has come already in part.
The King’s Oath.—The plotters against this fundamental law of the British Empire have gained a point. A Committee has been promised to confer with the Romanist lords concerning their objections to the oath. We hope a national movement against this impudent aggression will be made. There are plenty of blasphemous pretensions and bloodthirsty edicts still unrepealed on the Papal Statute books. To recede from the full-orbed militant Protestantism that has characterised our national history is a suicidal policy. There is no middle way with Rome. Our fathers found it so to their cost; and this Coronation Oath, which makes the profession of the Protestant faith, both in religion and politics, the very condition of allegiance to our kings, is a thing that cannot be altered without perfidy.
A Bad Book.—So we characterise the latest product of the “Higher Criticism.” This is the Yale Lectures on the “Preaching of the Old Testament,” by Professor George Adam Smith, United Free College, Glasgow. The author calmly assumes the validity of nearly all the findings of this infidel criticism. His drift is to show how, nevertheless, the skilful preacher can make a great deal out of an Old Testament of literary inaccuracies and pious frauds. We hope, next month, more fully to handle this impious production.
Note.—We expect to begin another series of interesting letters by the late Mr. Donald Duff in next issue.