Glasgow National Union of Railwaymen and Sabbath Excursion Trains.
— An illuminative correspondence between the Secretary of the above Society and the Secretary of the Scottish Sabbath Protection Society was published in the “Glasgow Herald” (25th June). For sheer materialism and commercialism run mad it would be difficult to get anything to surpass the Union’s communication. The name of our Lord, it is true, is dragged in by the Railwaymen, but this mock lip service to Him is the modern way of giving the Judas-kiss.
The law of supply and demand is evidently the greatest of all commandments, and because the people wish it, therefore the Railwaymen’s Union will not exercise their undoubted power, and ask for the non-running of excursion trains on the Sabbath. The Lord made Loch-Lomond and the other beauty spots of this fair land, they say, and it is right that the working classes should get out from the great city to worship God. These men must think that the generality of their fellows have lost all their thinking powers when they foist on them such nonsensical claptrap. Who ever heard of a Sabbath excursionist setting out with the express purpose of worshipping the Creator? It is well that the Railwaymen’s Union were reminded that there was a higher law than the law of supply and demand, to which they would do well to take heed, and that it is not unknown in the commercial world that breach of moral law has created many a time chaotic, economic conditions which are already casting their forbidding shadows over the railways of this country.
Foolish Reasoning.
—It is marvellous how foolish otherwise sensible men make themselves when ridiculing the truth. The following sentences from the Railwaymen Union’s letter referred to above would be hard to beat for nonsensical inconsequence:—”We would also like to point out that even the members of your Association will be prepared to admit that the Lord made Loch-Lomond. He made the Isle of Arran. He made the Trossachs between Loch-Achray and Loch-Katrine. He made Glenmore and Loch-Linnhe. He made the Lake District and the Peaks and pinnacles round Scafell and Great Gable. He also awakened in the minds of the working class the desire to see for themselves His handiwork, but capitalism has made the Gallowgate, Charlotte Street, Holm Street, and Lyon Street, and made wage slaves of the workers and the slave markets in Beardmore’s, Brown’s, etc., wherein they are bought by the day at so much per hour. You express your sincere sympathy with us who have to toil.” It is about high time that men who write after this fashion should receive the attention of the competent authorities, for if they reason after this fashion in matters that strictly belong to secular affairs and their well-being as railwaymen, they are a menace to the community. We have full sympathy with the railwaymen in every lawful endeavour to improve their position as working men, and rejoice in the improvement already achieved; but what kind of mentality do the writers of the above letter possess when they say that “the minds of the working class desire to see for themselves His handiwork” in the scenery of Arran, etc., on the Lord’s Day? Do they actually believe that the general public are a set of idiots to believe such glaring nonsense? To the writers of the letter we would say—”Gentlemen, you are either deceiving or fooling yourselves when you say the working class excursionists are out to see God’s handiwork. No, sirs; they are out for pleasure, pure and simple, and your plea for a religious motive in their doing the devil’s work is barefaced mockery of God.”
The United Free Church Minority.
—The Minority members of the United Free Church have definitely decided not to enter into the proposed Union with the Church of Scotland. At a conference held in the Christian Institute, Glasgow, on Wednesday, 27th June, a resolution was passed sanctioning and authorising the taking of all necessary steps to secure the continuance of the United Free Church of Scotland. An amendment to this received only 6 votes out of about 300. Questions of property, etc., it was suggested should be dealt with by friendly arbitration. This decision by the Minority has come as a bombshell on the heads of the ecclesiastical managers of Union negotiations. That worldly monitor, “The Scotsman,” says the decision will be received “with amazement and regret.” If the majority act with the same high hand as the majority party of 1893 and 1900 did, we may be sure that amazement and regret will give place to stern repressive measures as far as the law will allow it. Perhaps, however, the lessons learned in the stern school of adversity when the mighty were laid low and humiliated, will bring forth much desired fruit in this case. The Minority, who are refusing to enter the Union, are out and out Voluntaries. There is no indication that they are out to conserve scriptural truth.
The Princeton Issue.
—The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America did not give any decision on the Princeton issue. It is to come up next year for decision. It is to be hoped that the Lord will baffle the plans of the advance school in the Assembly, so that they will not be successful in their present plans.
The Bonnybridge School Case—A Welcome Decision.
—By a majority (3 to 1) the Judges in the Second Division of the Court of Session, on Tuesday, 17th July, recalled the interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary in the action relating to the Roman Catholic School at Bonnybridge. Their Lordships, in giving judgment for the Stirlingshire Education Authority, held that the consent of the Authority is necessary to the transfer of a denominational school built after the Act of 1918. Lord Alness (son of the late respected Rev. A. R. Munro, Free Church minister, Alness), the Lord Justice-General, dissented from the decision of the majority of the Judges. Lord Alness’s connection with this notorious Act is one of the most unworthy things he did while Secretary for Scotland. We are gratified at the interpretation put upon the Act by their lordships. It is certainly sound common sense, and it is something to know that it is also good law. Lord Murray’s decision, if upheld, would have created an intolerable situation. It is to be hoped that the Roman Catholic authorities will, in the future, move with a less aggressive air. They needed a check, and we are glad they got it.