Opening of Church at Inverness.
The new Church at Inverness will (D.V.) be opened on Friday, the 12th day of January. Two services will be held, Gaelic at 12 noon, and English at seven o’clock in the evening.
A Correction.
We are asked to correct an erroneous impression that has got abroad in some quarters in reference to an architectural feature of the new Church at Inverness. It has been said that the windows are of stained glass of Cathedral design. The description is not correct. The windows are quite plain, and of the usual material employed in Presbyterian Churches. The building is an excellent structure seated for over 700 persons. Its internal arrangements are comfortable and complete.
Communion at Inverness.
The Communion will (D.V.) be dispensed in the Inverness Free Presbyterian Church on the third Sabbath of January, the usual days of humiliation, preparation, and thanksgiving being held.
Ministerial Calls.
The congregation at Kames, Tighnabruaich, has given a call to the Rev. John Macleod, M.A., Ullapool. The Inverness congregation has given a call to the Rev. John R. Mackay, M.A., Gairloch.
A Printer’s Error.—Romanism in the Transvaal.
In our Notes and Comments of last month, under the heading “Irish Disloyalty” the phrase “Popish Discordances,” should have read “Popish Incendiaries.” But we now fear that in that paragraph we made a greater mistake than a printer’s one. Whatever opinion, good or bad, we had concerning President Kruger and the Transvaal Republic, we gave them credit for being a staunch Protestant people. This favourable view seems to be erroneous, if we may judge from recent reports. Witness the following extract from the English Churchman of 23rd November:—”Whatever opinions may have been entertained as to the Protestantism, or Puritanism, of President Kruger, and the Transvaal Executive, it would in reality appear to have been of a very accommodating character. It has been frequently said that some Irishmen of the Fenian type have been in the President’s confidence, and now the Irish Weekly, a priestly organ, sets forth, evidently with the view of obtaining sympathy for him, what it calls ‘the following facts,’ which throw some light on the subject:—’Dr. Leyds, Catholic; Dr. Farrelly, Government Adviser on International Law, Irish Roman Catholic; Mr. Hogan, Secretary to the Commandant-General, Irish Roman Catholic; Chevalier O’Donoghue, Vice-Chairman, Johannesburg Corporation, Irish Roman Catholic. One fourth of the Transvaal Civil Service are Catholics. The Catholic Church and Convent in Pretoria are built on ground presented by the Transvaal Government to the Nuns.’ Assuming the truth of all this, it is plain that the supposed Ultra-Protestantism of the Republic was only a myth and it is more than probable that the appointment of Romish officials, and the free grant of ground for a Romish temple of idolatry, and a house of bondage for nuns, may have been to the prejudice of the Boers, in taking up arms against the just rights of Englishmen. It is true that the British Government have been transgressors in a still greater degree, in placing Papists in power and patronising their corrupt and idolatrous religion, an offence against heaven, which well might call down Divine judgments. The maintenance of truth and freedom by righteous means is that which commends itself to the consciences of Christian people; and it is earnestly to be hoped that that will be the principle acted on by England in the troublous times before her, and in any settlement of the South African difficulty.'”—J. M’N.