By REV. JAMES MACLEOD, GREENOCK.
THE wicked are compared to the troubled sea that cannot rest. The universal unrest of the modern world is a sure indication of how destitute we are of the spirit of the gospel and of that peace that passeth all understanding. Every week that passes war clouds seem to gather more threateningly and the international prospect grows more and more alarming; God has a sore controversy with the nations of the earth.
Perhaps the most lamentable thing in international relationships is the distrust caused by the steady piling up of armaments by all European, and, indeed, Asiatic nations. We need have no doubt as to the ultimate results of this. At this very moment the murderous civil war in Spain is dragging on, causing untold unrest in Europe, stirring up class and racial hatreds, fostering enmity between rival political ideologies and rival factions—capable at any time of plunging the world into a bloodier war than it has ever known or imagined. Destruction will range abroad on air, land, water, and under the water. In the Book of Revelations (xvi. 20) we read: “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” We need have no doubt that here, under the designation of the terrible “hail out of heaven,” is a reference to the modern aerial bombardments which seem to have become a feature of so-called civilized warfare. Each stone, we read, was about the weight of one talent. We need not discuss the relative weights of the Jewish, Greek, and other types of talent as they differ considerably; a talent, however, is a very considerable weight, and a shower of the nature described would cause terrible and universal destruction. We know to a certain extent what destruction meant from our experience of the last War—millions of lives lost, hundreds of thousands maimed and crippled for life, and every other home deprived of a son, of a husband, of a father. The modern science of destruction has developed greatly, however, since 1914-18. Weapons and methods of attack are so efficient and so numerous that the nations tremble to put them into action; and yet, Sabbath and week-day, they go on feverishly preparing against one another.
We believe that Britain has done and is doing her best to avoid a clash of arms; her foreign policy with its mistakes and its successes is directed towards maintaining peace and balance between the various powers—a difficult task. We have to ask ourselves whether such peace can be maintained for very long. Nations are ranging themselves into two opposing camps—dictatorship or democracy, Fascism or Communism, right against might. A most significant thing, also, is becoming more and more evident—the Church of Rome is definitely on the side of the international trouble-makers.
The reasons for this are not far to seek. Hitler and Mussolini are both sons of the Roman Catholic Church; when she is faced with erring children that Church can always welcome them back when they fit in with her schemes of political and spiritual supremacy. Her constant claim of power over the souls, minds, and actions of her followers will be reasserted, and the penitent serves the Church, be he king or beggar. Mussolini was a much more circumspect orator when relations between his Church and himself were not very cordial, but now that he has done formal obeisance to the Pope’s position and now that father and son are allied and in harmony, his aggressiveness seems to know no bounds; his brutal attack on and conquest of the defenceless Abyssinians and his attitude in the Mediterranean are recent examples of this. Since the 7th century of the Christian era the church of Rome has been the avowed enemy of civil and religious liberties as we understand them. Her attitude is unchanged—it is her proud boast that she is always the same. She is just like the chameleon, that little animal which changes its colour to suit its surroundings—but which is always the same chameleon. The transformations of the Roman whore, however, are more than changes of colour—she resembles the bear, lion, serpent, the “Angel of light”—Satan.
The intrusion of such a religion into national and international politics is a very grave thing for Britain and the world in general. Russia is officially anti-religious; like France in a somewhat modified sense, she is professedly atheistical. Britain and the British Empire, on the other hand, are professed Protestant and Christian nations. At our doors, however, is the Irish Free State, wholly Roman Catholic in outlook, sympathies, and government—a potential source of trouble which cannot be underestimated. The existence of influences alien to our traditions both on our borders and in our midst should be carefully observed and never disregarded. Every loyal Protestant should regard the Irish Roman Catholics warily; they are a greater menace to our security in peace or war than any of the aggressive European powers. Their allegiance lies not in London, or even in Dublin, but in the Vatican at Rome; Sir Roger Casement and Michael Collins of 1916 are dead, but the spirit of the Papacy still lives. It may be noted here that Roman Catholics hold many highly responsible administrative positions in our Government departments—in the Foreign Office, instance. The British Broadcasting Corporation, also, which is in absolute control of everything heard on the wireless, has many Roman Catholics on its staff in important positions. The supreme head of all Roman Catholics, we must remember, is also the head of a foreign state. On this ground is justified the sending of an Ambassador to the Pope representing the British Government, and the salutation which our navy and defence forces must give to the flag of the Man of Sin is in actuality a flagrant breach of our constitution as being that of a Protestant state. The state Church of England, however, continues to give evidence of Jesuitical influence, and Romanizing tendencies can be readily detected. The Protestant watchtower, instead of becoming deserted, should be manned by far more stalwarts than ever before.
The picture is gloomy indeed; but all power is given to the Son of God both in heaven and in the earth. Numerically the Roman Catholics are a very small minority in our nation, perhaps three million out of a population of over forty-three millions. At the same time the church organisation is so efficient and all-embracing, that their power can be, and in fact is, totally out of proportion to their numbers. The Confessional, which demands from the faithful all his secrets, even in the most secular matters, and is guarded only by an easily-evaded profession of secrecy, must take many an important piece of information to the ears of the church dignitaries, and thence to the Pope and the conclave of cardinals at Rome. The Jesuits, easily the most powerful and, at the same time, the most detestable of religious societies, are entirely without scruple or conscience, for the order lays down the pernicious doctrine that “the end justifies the means.” Past activities of that order give us no guarantee as to the integrity of any person in temporal or spiritual life; for a Jesuit can deny his faith, can in fact apparently oppose it, in order that his Church may reap some future benefit.
We are far from advocating, or even suggesting, that Roman Catholics should be persecuted because they are Roman Catholics. Victims, undoubtedly, of a system under which spiritual guidance, training, and principles can work for wickedness as they have done in the distant, and the not so distant, past, they find themselves under and part of a power which can easily be wielded for evil or for good by the church dignitaries and ultimately the Pope. If the Roman Church pursues a policy calculated to secure the political and spiritual increase of her faith which we abhor and rightly regard as Satanic, the harm to Britain and the world is very great. In the nature of things she must pursue such a policy. If God in His mercy would open the eyes of Romanists to their great error, it would be an untold blessing to themselves and the world as a whole.
We advise our dear people amid the turmoil of these times to seek the preparation that grace can accomplish in their souls. Young men may be suddenly asked to face the realities of temporal life or death at any time, and many homes may suffer; but, dear friends, the Lord Jesus is mighty to save, and let us look to him alone. National corruption and ungodliness should be a far greater sorrow to us than the dangers of the international situation, for we must remember that even nations who feared God, as Israel and Judah, were sorely tried for their wrongdoings. God has decreed the utter destruction of all nations who do not serve Him.
The Papacy shall never conquer Christ, His gospel, and His people, under whatever system of politics or in whatever country it raises itself up. There are some who daringly say to some of our people that the Papacy is not the Man of Sin, or the Whore of Revelation. Calvin, Luther, Knox, and their successors—men of erudition and piety, deeply taught in the Word of God by the Holy Spirit, had no doubt of it that the Church of Rome was amply personified thus in Revelation. Free Presbyterians have great and precious privileges, and cannot prize them highly enough nor value their importance sufficiently. Let them hold fast to these privileges, and pray for our country in these troublous times, that our rulers and people may be guided aright. Let us all seek by prayer and supplication to be on the watch-tower, for we know not what lies before us. May the Lord fit and prepare us for all duties and eventualities. May His kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.