Foolish and Irreverent Remarks on the Bible.—
Irreverent remarks on the Bible or Bible incidents are always reprehensible and more especially when coming from recognised religious leaders. We are led to make these remarks, in view of certain statements made by Dr Campbell Morgan at the annual meeting of the Scottish Sunday School Union, in St Andrew’s Halls, Glasgow. The subject was the best method of teaching the Bible to children and Dr Morgan, as reported in the “Glasgow Herald” said: “His (the speaker’s) father used to punish him by giving him the Bible to learn. A more deadly, a more damnable thing was never done. He remembered when he did some prank—it was a boy’s business to do that—his father had given him the 119th Psalm to learn. (Laughter). He confessed that for years he hated it—the only bits he loved were the swearing bits. (Laughter).” Now, while Dr Morgan was justified in warning against a practice that cannot be commended, he was not justified in using the foolish and irreverent words he did in condemning it. One would have expected in an address, intended to show the best method to teach children the Bible, a complete absence of any such remarks.
Slaves Set Free.—“The American” (Baltimore) has a very interesting article describing the emancipation of 75,000 Nepalese slaves. The ruler of Nepal, Maharajah Sir Chaudra Shum Shere Jung, it would appear came under Christ’s influences and he determined to set the slaves in his dominion free. This enlightened ruler bought from the slave holders 52,000 slaves and set them free at a cost of over a quarter of a million pounds. The other 23,000 were set free by their masters without compensation. The Maharajah delivered a touching speech on the day of emancipation and the emancipated slaves were frantic with joy. It is distressing to learn from this very interesting article that there are still a million slaves in Asia.
The Roman Catholic Relief Bill.—The promoters and supporters of this Bill, though unable to get its third reading during last Parliamentary session, are doing their best to get it passed into law this session. The three Presbyteries of the Church have sent strong protests against the Bill to some of the members of the Cabinet and to local M.P.’s, calling on them to vote against the Bill at its third reading. Our readers who have not yet done so, should write their Parliamentary representative on the subject.