Strange Reason for Tell Scotland Movement Failure.
At a Presbytery meeting of the Church of Scotland, at Turiff, the Rev. P. C. MacQuoid stated that he doubted if the missionaries of the “Tell Scotland” movement were successful with their message in the rural areas. He suggested it was because “ministers were hanging on far too often to the dignified and sacrosanct language of the Authorised Version” of the Bible. We may report that this certainly was not the reason in one town in the North of Scotland where the “Tell Scotland” movement operated, when a vicar from London was invited to speak on “Healing Down Through the Ages,” and gave a harangue on the use of salt, holy water, the confessional, and the exorcising of devils, etc., dressed in all the “priestly” garments of a high Anglican clergyman. We still believe that any blessing following upon the preaching of the doctrines of the Gospel, whether the actual words of the Authorised Version are strictly adhered to or not, is secured only by the accompanying power of the Holy Spirit.
European Assembly and Religious Persecution.
During last September the 15 Nation European Assembly, at which there were, as usual, representatives from this country, met on the Continent. The Assembly denounced religious persecution in Communist countries. So far so good, then it expressed indignation that “human rights and liberties have been violated and denied.” But from reports it was left to two delegates, one from West Germany and the other from Belgium, to expose and condemn religious persecution in Spain. This referred, of course, to the persecution by the Roman Catholic Church of those outside that Church in Spain. And so we see in such an Assembly denunciation not only of Communism but also of Roman Catholicism. This is as it ought to be.
Private Administration of the Lord’s Supper.
A short time ago the Elgin Presbytery of the Church of Scotland agreed to overture the General Assembly to repeal an Act of 1690 which prohibits the administration of the Lord’s Supper to sick persons in their own homes, etc. This Act was passed in days long ago when the Church in Scotland was cleansing out Episcopacy. The private administration of the Lord’s Supper is inconsistent with the example of Christ in the instituting of this ordinance while His immediate disciples were with Him, entering into fellowship with Him and with one another at the one table. This ordinance is referred to in Scripture as follows: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (I Cor. x. 16). There is in the case of worthy receivers union to and communion with the Lord Jesus, and also communion with each other as members of one body in the proper observance of this ordinance. The Confession of Faith forbids the private administration of this sacrament. As to the distribution of the elements of bread and wine, it states both are to be given to communicants, “but to none who are not then present in the congregation” (chap. xxix., Section 3). And in Section 4 the receiving of this sacrament alone by (or from) a priest or any other is declared to be “contrary to the nature of this sacrament and to the institution of Christ.” For all this and the Act referred to, the Lord’s Supper is being administered by some clergymen in the Church of Scotland other than in the usual manner, publicly. The Romish priest administers the unauthorised rite of “extreme unction” to the dying, and supposed Presbyterian clergy wish to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to the sick upon their beds. We refrain from following this out, but we do know that, as to another “harmless” Christian practice, prayers at the grave, they now include petitions for the dead in the ordinary practice of some ministers of the Church of Scotland. And it is just as likely that the Lord’s Supper, privately administered to sick individuals, can degenerate into something like the Romish Mass or extreme unction.
Arabians Forbidden Christian Education.
The King of Arabia, King Saud, has issued a royal decree forbidding his subjects throughout the world to have their children educated in Christian schools. This was made known in October. The decree is aimed at “safeguarding the children’s religion and their adherence to the ethics of Islam.” It is also revealed that contravention of King Saud’s command will be punishable by loss of nationality, and in the case of government servants, by dismissal from the service. And so the ethics of Islam (i.e. the Mahommedan religion) apparently permit King Saud to become a modern Nebuchadnezzar. At anyrate, any real fellowship with Christian instruction exposes the Arabian to persecution of a very severe type. This King will, of course, be cognisant of the fact that any British subject who may be allured and deceived by one or other of the Eastern pagan cults, is not persecuted and penalised personally by the British Government on that account. Christian ethics would not permit of such procedure as persecution. We here refer not to Roman Catholic moral principles, but to those of the Christian and Protestant Church in this land and elsewhere. Certain activities in India, Ceylon, and now in Arabia, have recently indicated a new and determined effort on the part of pagan religionists to oppose and frustrate the influence of Christian missionaries and of Christian doctrine in their respective countries. Surely the god of this world, that old serpent, the devil and satan, is getting afraid of certain trends which may be operating against his hold upon many millions of poor sinners, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, in India and other pagan lands. It is not altogether a discouraging sign when Satan is roused against Christ and His Truth.
A Desire for Bishops in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland needs “something like bishops” to take over some of the work of ministers. So said the Rev. Dr. E. D. Jarvis, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, recently. We are getting a good deal of this kind of propaganda in Scotland to-day from so-called Presbyterians. One of the reasons is not far to seek. “Delegates appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in accordance with Resolutions passed by the Convocations of Canterbury and York have held the first of a new series of Conversations with delegates appointed by authority of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at New College, Edinburgh. Appointed representatives of the Episcopal Church in Scotland and of the Presbyterian Church of England attended also as full members of the Conference, which lasted from Wednesday, September 29, to Friday, October 1.” The Church of Scotland is thus officially, with a few dissentients, going strongly out for collaboration with the Church of England with its Episcopal forms of government, etc. The evangelicals in the Church of England are not the object of their collaboration. In the light of all this how deplorable it is that some ministers of the Free Church of Scotland are prepared to hold services in the Church of Scotland, which is modernistic and veering away from Presbyterianism as to the practices thereof. Surely it is common knowledge that the Church of England is full of Anglo-Catholics, with their eye on reunion with the See of Rome. God-fearing and enlightened Presbyterians in Scotland are surely obliged to stand firm and aloof from all such entanglements. And, by the way, Dr. Jarvis craves for bishops in Scotland. Does he not know that there is a great deal of confusion in the machinery of ecclesiastical government of the Church of England at the present time? This is not for lack of bishops.
Midnight Mass from Paris.
Television viewers in this Protestant nation may have in their programme on Christmas Eve, as it is called, a transmission of midnight Romish mass from Notre Dame R.C. Cathedral in Paris. Plans for such an idolatrous transmission have been discussed in London during October by the European Broadcasting Union on which the British Broadcasting Corporation is represented. Commenting on this proposal, a correspondent in a religious paper says, “It seems to me outrageous, to say the least of it, to televise a service in this country which is ‘a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.’ Moreover, it is disloyal to H.M. the Queen to televise a service which is contrary to the religion which she promised at her Coronation to defend.”
Ex-Priest and Preaching the Truth.
At the recent annual meeting of the Protestant Alliance in London, the Rev. Mariano Rughi, an ex-priest of the Church of Rome, addressed the meeting. The following is a report of his address which appeared in the English Churchman of 8th October, 1954, viz:—Quoting from Galatians i, he emphasised its application to the Protestant message: “For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ.” St. Paul’s first loyalty was always Christ. Popularity did not count; he was very unpopular: they called him bigoted. To-day our chief concern is the lack of concern amongst Christians of the way the Roman Catholic Church is working in this country, said Mr. Rughi. So many thousands of people are in absolute ignorance about the Roman Catholic system. The clergy so often do not preach Protestantism. Over and over again I am told you must preach love. They preach love, I fear, at the expense of truth. I reply, preach the truth in love, but preach truth. Let us preach the Gospel but we must also denounce the errors of the Roman Catholic system. When we do this we are accused of being aggressive. Well, that is a compliment. The Gospel is aggressive. Have we forgotten that this is a war and we have a sword? We must be frank and bold pronouncing God’s salvation and denouncing all error.