BY REV. D. M. MACDONALD, PORTREE.
It is quite clear to any thinking person that the present tendency in religion and morals is by no means in the right direction. As in other spheres, so also in religion and morals there appears to be a gradual departure from the standards and ideals of the past. This is shown in various ways. Family worship at one time was conducted daily in all parts of Scotland, but today it is observed only in comparatively few households. The sad feature is that those who should be examples to others, such as office-bearers and members in full communion, are very remiss in this duty. When such is the case it is no wonder that those who make no profession should neglect it. Religion, in order to prosper in the State, must begin in the home, and although the mere observance of religious worship does not save the soul, yet it inculcates reverence for divine realities, high ideals of conduct, fortifies the conscience with holy sanctions, and should be observed in every household as a matter of duty.
Attendance on Means of Grace
Attendance on the means of grace is very indifferent in the large towns and cities. Many churches have had to be closed of late years owing to dwindling congregations. Some think that the cause of this is the present division of the Churches, and they maintain that a union of the Churches would bring an end to non-churchgoing, and many other evils that exist throughout the land. We believe that the reason why churches are deserted is not the want of unity, but the teaching of Higher Criticism in the pulpit, the absence of a pure Evangel, and the neglect of emphasising these three verities of the Christian religion—Ruin by the Fall, Redemption by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, and Regeneration by the Spirit. It has been calculated that the population who have lapsed from the Churches are being recruited at the rate of 7000 a year. This bodes ill for Scotland. Very soon, unless there is a change for the better, our industrial centres will be populated by a heathen mass, caring little for Christianity or morals. Another ominous fact pointing in this direction is that in the year 1855 there were 9 so-called irregular marriages in Scotland, but now there are about 5000 annually. It may be assumed that these families are set up without invoking the blessing of Him who instituted marriage, and that in them there is neither acknowledgment of God nor of His claims. The Committee cannot but view with regret these portentous statistics.
Sabbath Observance
With regard to Sabbath observance, the Committee have to report, with sorrow, that new forms of profaning the Lord’s Day are being developed. Between Inverness and Dingwall a daring desecration of the Sabbath has been commenced by a char-a-banc service, against the wishes of many of the people. It is to be hoped that the efforts of those who are endeavouring to put an end to this form of travelling on the day of rest will be successful.
Wireless installations are now being utilised for broadcasting concerts, political speeches, and secular news of all kinds on the Sabbath, with deplorable results. This invention has been of great use in saving life, and is of great commercial value, but when used for wrong purposes it is bound to prove harmful to its users. It is a sad proof of human depravity that useful inventions are so often put to wrong uses.
The Committee note with satisfaction that attempts to secularise the Lord’s Day in Bo’ness and also at the Wembley Exhibition have so far proved abortive. The offer of a public park to the citizens of the former place on condition that games would be permitted on the Sabbath was a Jesuitical attempt to bribe the people to sell their birthright. Fortunately, the gift was refused, there being some at any rate in the community whose consciences were alive to the issues involved, and who stirred up the people to spurn the gift on the terms offered. The Committee are pleased to know that the efforts of Sabbath desecrators in several places to profane God’s Day have met deserved rebuffs, and they would urge upon the Government to prohibit amusements and trading on the Day of Rest.
The Growth of Socialism
The growth of Socialism in our nation has been marked by many bad features. Socialists are making use of the Lord’s Day to further their sinister designs. Their political and union meetings frequently take place on that day, and the saddest feature of all, they have made a bold bid to capture the young by organising so-called Sabbath Schools, in which are taught blasphemous and corrupting views. An effort has been made in Parliament to make such teaching illegal, and we earnestly hope that a bill will be passed to that effect.
Gambling and Betting
The Committee are glad to say that the attempt made last year to legalise betting has ended in failure.
There appears to be no diminution in these two evils, gambling and betting. The highest as well as the lowest in the land are addicted to these vices, and the elusiveness of the laws dealing with them appears to handicap the police in their efforts to stamp out the twin evils. Some might say that there was nothing inherently wrong in appealing to chance, but, judging by its consequences when it took the form of betting and wagering, it was one of the most hurtful sins of to-day. One has well said that “It led to a weakened sense of the value of money. It quickened the latent instinct of avarice. It begat a callous indifference to the misfortunes of others. It undermined and denied the whole system governing property, for it determined ownership by chance instead of by proportionate personal productive effort.”
Intemperance
Intemperance is not so prevalent as it used to be in some places. The Act passed some years ago for the advancement of temperance in Scotland has been productive of good in that it has reduced drunkenness in certain areas. As mentioned in a previous report, the following results have been found in dry districts:— The children of the poorer classes are better clothed and fed; many more housewives are getting their proper share of the weekly wage; quite a number of men who have been habitual drunkards will not now take the trouble to travel to the nearest “wet” area; work is more punctually dispatched. Savings banks, despite the hard times, have done well; police statistics without exception reveal remarkable decreases in crimes associated with alcohol. To become more effective the Scottish Temperance Act should be amended so as to prohibit the selling by wholesale licence of intoxicating drinks. It has been discovered that drink sold wholesale in “dry” towns has been sold retail in private, thus setting up the very evils that the Act was designed to suppress. In 1922 the sum of £32,000,000 and some hundreds of thousands odds was spent on drink in Scotland. These are staggering figures, and should cause our countrymen some uneasiness. Roughly speaking, half-a-crown per week per man, woman, and child was spent on drink. It is doubtful if the people of Scotland give more than one shilling per head per week for the support of religious ordinances. The contrast is at once striking and painful, while the corollary is that the children of the world give far more lavishly to their idols than those in the church give in offerings to their God.