The Macedonian Massacres.—The civilised world has heard with horror of the terrible programme of outrage and bloodshed which the Turk is now pursuing in Macedonia. The helplessness of the other nations the while is a singular feature of the situation. They are afraid of interfering lest worse should follow. If the Turk should be driven from Europe, as he deserves, the struggle for Constantinople which would ensue would likely convert Europe into an arena of contending hosts. It is our duty to abhor the doings of these bloody and deceitful followers of the false prophet, whose mission from the first has been one of destruction and misery. And we should pray for the speedy relief of the oppressed people of Macedonia. Neither should we forget the sacred Biblical associations of that land. It is not far from the scene of the present massacres where the beautiful moral transformation was effected that we read of in 1 Thessalonians i. 9-10. “How ye turned from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.” And it may have been the very ancestors of the present victims of Turkish cruelty that the Apostle mentions in 2 Cor. viii. 1. “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.” Neither are the two scenes, though separated by the space of well-nigh two thousand years, things without a real and significant connection. The God who was working in that moral transformation of the first century is the same who is even now avenging the quarrel of His covenant. We should be awed by the long vengeance He takes for despised gospel grace. It was not long before the converted nations of Eastern Europe began to dote upon a new set of idols, and to desert the pure spiritual form of New Testament worship for the culture of relics, crucifixes, pictures of the Virgin Mary, etc. In the year A.D. 786 this apostacy culminated in the decision of the Second Council of Nice, legalising image worship in the Christian Church, and pronouncing a curse upon everyone who would attempt any opposition thereto. This consummation was not reached without much strife and bloodshed. Several right-minded emperors opposed themselves with all their power to the popular madness. Among these Leo the Isaurian, who flourished about the beginning of the eighth century, is honourably distinguished. However, the deadweight of superstitious priests and monks was too much even for the Imperial power, and the corruption of the Greek Church was accomplished as we see it at this day. To punish this apostacy God raised up first the Saracens and then the Turks, and it is His long vengeance for the contempt of His spiritual worship that is bringing forth the present horrors in Macedonia, where the victims are reckoned from 35,000 to 70,000. Nevertheless it is to be feared that the result will only be as is noted in Rev. ix. 20—”And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.”
The Great Day of Atonement.—While we write (Thursday, October 1st,) all the scattered communities of Jews throughout the world are proceeding with the maimed and lifeless anniversary which represents the Day of Atonement. It is thirty-four hundred years since, at the command of God, Aaron went in to the Most Holy Place and made an atonement by substitutionary blood for the iniquities of the whole congregation. To-day Israel has neither priest nor temple nor sacrifice, nevertheless on this “tenth day of the seventh month” they still abstain from work and go through the form of afflicting their souls and presenting themselves before the Lord in their synagogues.