The Bolshevists.
The Russian Bolshevists are not succeeding as well as they had hoped, says the “Presbyterian Witness,” in suppressing the Christian religion. Some time ago Zinoviev, the hierarch of the Third Internationale Hierarchy, after expressing doubts about the Communist war on religion, said: “We shall pursue our attacks on Almighty God in due time and in an appropriate manner. We are confident we shall subdue Him in His empyrean. We shall fight Him wherever He hides Himself. But we must go about such a question as anti-religious propaganda more carefully in the future.” On which the New York “Post” remarks: “A little Red Ajax of atheism cautiously defying the eternal silences and the everlasting thunders. A Red speck riding for an instant on the rim of the Great Golden Wheel of God’s universe calls upon that wheel to stop its eternal circlings.” The futile efforts of these foolish people to fight against God recalls the 2nd Psalm and the fate depicted by the writer of those who in their revolt against the Divine law, imagine vain things, and are overwhelmed by the disaster which they have brought upon themselves.
The Established Church Moderator on the Bible.
Dr White, in a recent address to the Rotary Club, Dundee, dealt with that mysterious, ever-changing and elusive subject—”The Modern Mind.” In the course of his address he spoke of a return to, and confidence in, the message of the pulpit. “It was based,” he said, “not on the Scriptures, but on the Word of God which was contained in the Scriptures, in a more wonderful Bible than the Church ever possessed. It was an authority of Christ, who stood before the world of men in clearer form to-day than at any other time in the history of the Church. In other words, the beliefs of the Church which constituted the substance of the sermon were being readjusted to fit more harmoniously into the sum of modern convictions. That was the secret of returning authority.” Or, to put the matter straightly, the Church was now adjusting her creed to suit the everchanging outlook of the modern mind, while setting aside the Church view of the divine authority and inerrancy of the Scripture. It is news to us to learn that the new Bible of the scholars is a “more wonderful Bible than the Church ever possessed,” and that Christ “stood before the world of men in a clearer form to-day than any other time in the history of the Church.” That these words should be uttered in Scotland is passing strange. That they should be uttered by the Moderator of the Established Church shows that it is possible for one to occupy the most honourable place in that Church and yet have not even a nodding acquaintance with the religious history and contentions of his native country. If this be the kind of teaching that is permissible in the new Church for which Dr White is working with all his might, then farewell to the Westminster Standards and all implied in them.
Agitation for a Tax on Betting.
A certain section of the press is renewing its agitation for a tax on betting. One sees with regret that the “Spectator,” of which better things were expected, is lending its powerful advocacy to this bad cause. In a recent issue, Canon Green, Manchester, in reviewing a recent article in that journal, says:—“I oppose the tax for the following reasons:—(1) In no country where it has been tried has it reduced the volume of betting, but rather increased it. (2) That a tax would do nothing to regularise or control betting, since in France, New South Wales, South Australia, New Zealand, and every other country where a totalisator alone is legal, and book-making prohibited, bookmakers exist and do as much, and more, business as of old. (3) That the psychological effect of a Government tax on gambling would inevitably be to produce in the minds of young people the impression that betting was a perfectly right and respectable thing. I have an immense mass of evidence on this point, too long to be summarised in a letter. (4) That to licence betting would be to produce a great vested interest most difficult to fight in the future. (5) That the practical proposals put forward by the Home Office before the recent commission were such as would fill every religious and social worker, with any first-hand knowledge of the conditions which exist in our great industrial centres, with despair.”
The Bible and the Pilgrim’s Progress.
In placing these two books together it is not intended to convey the idea that they are on the same plane. The Bible occupies a place above all books written by men, but among these “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” if not occupying a pre-eminent, certainly occupies a very high place. The Bible has been translated in part into 770 languages and dialects, while “The Pilgrim’s Progress” has been translated into 107 languages and dialects. We believe this is a unique distinction for a book the work of men. Little did Bunyan dream when he sent forth his little book that it would visit so many parts of the world. Its scriptural teaching, its clear-cut descriptions, its touches of genius, all set forth in fine, simple Saxon, have all combined to give it a unique place in the classic literature of the world.