Death of Mr. John A. Kensit, Protestant Leader.
It is with deep regret that we record here the death of Mr. John A. Kensit, secretary and leader of the Protestant Truth Society, London, at the age of 75 years, on 9th March, 1957, and who was actively engaged until a short time before his death. His father, John Kensit, who went before him in the work of Protestant Witness, died in 1902, a few days after being attacked in a Birkenhead street, by enemies of the truth. It was true of John Alfred Kensit, that he carried on the Witness left by his father, and as the English Churchman states, he “spent his life in combating Romanism, Ritualism and Rationalism, and was fearless in his denunciation of every betrayal of Protestantism, in Church and Nation. A magnificent speaker and lecturer, he was also a man of very gracious character.” We, and a number of our Church people, had in the past the privilege of hearing him lecture. He came to Scotland more than once. Indeed, in Scotland, the land of John Knox, there is no society or organisation of a Protestant character, which can in any way compare with the Protestant Societies in England and Northern Ireland, as to alert, active witness on the side of Protestant truth and practice. We sympathise with the Protestant Truth Society, London, on the great loss they have suffered in the death of Mr. Kensit; and indeed the nation has lost a keen watchman in relation to Romanising influences among us. But then “it is appointed unto men once to die,” and the Lord reigns in all things which affect His Kingdom and Glory.
Dunoon ex-Provost defends the Lord’s Day.
All over the country there are repeated endeavours by varied local authorities to introduce amusements and public means of entertainment for holiday-makers on the Lord’s Day. For instance, the Dunoon Town Council, Argyllshire, approved by a majority vote, at the beginning of March, to permit golf putting on the Municipal greens on the Lord’s Day during the summer period. The usual empty arguments were advanced in favour of this. But ex-Provost C. M. Black opposed the motion in a worthy manner as follows:—
“Ex-Provost C. M. Black said personally he had no desire to interfere with the liberty of any person, but it was a different matter, so far as the Town Council was concerned. That body determined the kind of community the citizens of Dunoon would live in. If they wanted to establish a pagan community then by all means let them, pull down all the barriers, but, he warned, ‘if we wish to live in a Christian community we must preserve the best characteristics of the Scottish Sabbath.’ That people should be reminded one day a week of other values than the material and secular was not, to his mind, grievous. They were tampering with the very souls of the community, even if the proposal increased the town’s bank balance by a few pounds. In conclusion ex-Provost Black quoted, ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'”
Ex-Provost Black is to be commended for speaking publicly in such a Scriptural and faithful manner on this issue. If there were more men on public bodies of the mind of ex-Provost Black, the country would indeed be the better by their influence.
B.B.C. Bans Superstitious Song.
It was recently reported that the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Variety Music organiser, Mr. Donald MacLean, had banned what is called the record of a new song called “The Silver Madonna.” He has told the publishers of this song “that it has a purely superstitious import which is inconsistent with religious teaching.” Some of the words in this song which Mr. MacLean rightly diagnosed as superstitious are: “When I am not beside you, you won’t be alone, my Madonna will guide you until you are safely home.” The author of this song we can almost with certainty judge to be a Roman Catholic, brought up to venerate and confide in even a little man made, silver representation of Mary, our Lord’s mother. He (or she) puts this papish priestly tuition and superstition into song to propagate religious beliefs of the dark ages, as well as to entertain the vain public. When we consider that the B.B.C. department concerned with religious broadcasting, permits the broadcasting and televising of the blasphemous superstition of the Romish Mass, viz., a flour wafer supposed to be turned into the body, blood and divinity of the Lord Jesus by words from a so-called priest, how did Mr. Donald MacLean, manage to ban “The Silver Madonna”? Maybe he has Protestant origins in the Western Highlands of Scotland, and also authority to act thus in his own department of the B.B.C. We wish he would spread his interpretation of what is superstitious and inconsistent with Scriptural religious teachings, to the department responsible for propagating the more terrible superstition of the Mass. Mr. MacLean’s action is rather interesting in the light of other factors we have just mentioned.
Church of Scotland Presbytery Favours Cremation.
We are aware of the fact that cremation of the dead, and not ordinary Scriptural, Christian burial of the body of deceased persons, is on the increase in Scotland, even among those who have made a profession of the Christian faith. There was a time when this revolting practice was largely confined to rationalists and other irreligious persons, who did not believe in, or feared the resurrection of the body, and the judgment of the Great Day to follow. But a few months ago the Dumfries Presbytery of the Church of Scotland agreed to approach local authorities about the provision of a crematorium in a central place in the South of Scotland. A Rev. Dr. H. A. Cockburn pointed out that the nearest crematoria were at Edinburgh and Carlisle. To us, but not to the Rev. Doctor, the very word “Crematorium” has a repugnance all of its own. It may be that the members of this presbytery advanced the usual arguments of public health and lack of ground in relation to the disposal of the dead in their area. And it might well be also, that some of them really do not believe in a physical resurrection at last, according to the Words of the Lord Jesus. The organised burning of the bodies of the dead, has the clear stamp of paganism upon the practice. In the case of the true Christian, such “die in the Lord Jesus,” and “their bodies being still, united to Christ do rest in the grave till the resurrection” (Shorter Catechism). We have no right, ordinarily, to do anything in this matter but to lay the dust in the dust, without interfering with that dust.
Indications of Unrest in Spain.
At the beginning of the year, it is said that students in Spain were showing signs of unrest, and that this unrest existed prior to the Hungarian revolt against Communistic rule; but that revolt in Hungary had encouraged the Spanish students. One reliable foreign correspondent wrote that the role which students have played in the unrest is accounted for partly by the fact that they have no family responsibilities, and are therefore more willing to risk arrest. But the following information is illuminating, when it is asserted that the students “revolt is partly directed against the combined attempt of Church (that is the Roman Catholic Church) and State to keep the intellect in chains.” We wish these words could be written large before the eyes of many in Britain today, to show them what Rome does in power, and in Spain in 1957, and would do in Britain also if Pope and priest had power as in poor Spain. Yes! The Roman Catholic Church where it has the power of the sword keeps the intellect of the people in chains. What a diabolical system!