The Veto Bill and the Protestant Succession.—A meeting of the Presbytery of Glasgow was held on 2nd May in the Presbytery Hall, Trongate. The following motion was submitted by the Rev. Mr. Rankine, of Titwood Parish:—”That the Presbytery solemnly protest against the refusal of His Majesty’s Government to exempt from the operations of the Parliament Bill now before the House of Commons, ‘Any Bill which alters or repeals any enactment affecting the Protestant Succession to the Throne’; and that intimation of this protest be sent to the members of Parliament representing the constituencies within the bounds of the Presbytery, and to the Prime Minister.” Mr. Rankine said he was not prompted by anything of a political party spirit in the matter. He was not to be understood as making an attack upon the Parliament Bill. But that was a different thing from saying that they were going to be ready to trust any House of Commons to unrestrained legislation, or to submit questions of our religious liberties to the chance coalition of parties there. The tampering with the Constitution in such a way as to make it possible that one party in Parliament might one day make the repeal of these Acts the price of their support of the Government was, he thought, absolutely intolerable. The Roman Church in this land had had removed one after another of the political disabilities under which they laboured. They did not blame them for endeavouring to have these removed. He did not know that any were now left except the Premiership and the Throne. He felt that the Government was not true to the history of this country when it refused to exempt the Acts affecting the Protestant Succession from the operations of this Bill. The Rev. Dr. Macmillan seconded. The Rev. Mr. Gunson moved that the motion be not approved. The amendment was seconded, and the motion was adopted.
Good Work by a Converted Romanist.—There resides in Stranraer, Scotland, a young Italian, named Mr. Guiseppe Bonugli, who has recently become a convert to Protestantism. He owns four shops in the town, and has now closed them on Sabbath. Hitherto they have been open for the sale of ice creams and confectionery. He took his stand on Biblical principles, and now he states that he has gained, through his Sabbath rest, physically, morally, and spiritually. There are 20 shops in Stranraer open on the Lord’s day, but this Italian convert from Rome is the first Italian there who has closed his places of business on the sacred day of rest.
Rome and the Bible.—The Quarterly Record of the Trinitarian Bible Society (says The Vanguard) is always a welcome visitor to us, and we wish all our readers would write the Secretary asking for literature that would be gladly sent to any address.
Owing to the fact that the British and Foreign Bible Society persist in scattering corrupted editions of the Holy Scriptures, we consider the Trinitarian Bible Society is an absolute necessity, and should be supported by all who value the unadulterated Word of God. Popery is bad enough anywhere, but when it is sandwiched between the texts of the inspired Word, this is intolerable. We quote the following from a capital article which appears in the last issue of the above-mentioned report in hopes that many will write to 7 Bury Street, Bloomsbury, London, W.C., and secure the April issue:—”Rome had kept the Bible from the people for fifteen centuries, and, when the Reformers began to make translations, Rome answered by setting up the tortures of the Inquisition, and lighting the fires of the stake. She burnt the books, burnt the translators, and burnt the readers of the Bible. To-day she turns round and says: ‘The Church gave you the Bible.’
“Ritualists echo Rome’s claim. But the fact is that we have the Bible in spite of the Church. If the Church had had its way or its will, the people would never have had a Bible at all. This is evidenced by the position of the Bible to-day in all Roman Catholic countries.
“When Rome found it her policy, she made translations; she made them, but not before she was obliged so to do; she made them under what she called compulsion, and not because she wished the people to know what God had written for them. This was why she fenced them round with every imaginable obstacle. She made them, moreover, not from the Hebrew and Greek originals, but from her own ‘Authorised’ Version—the Latin Vulgate, already declared to be her ‘Authentic Version’ by the Council of Trent.”