The Education Bill—New Concessions to the Papists.
—Mr. Walter Walsh, in the English Churchman, comments as follows on a speech recently made by Mr. Birrell in the House of Commons:—“During the debate on the Education Bill last week Mr. Birrell said a few things which will be read with anything but satisfaction by decided Protestants. He stated that:—‘In deciding in favour of the continued existence of a denominational school’ (he was speaking specially of Roman Catholic schools) ‘in an area where there was sufficient accommodation in the national schools, he had decided more than once in favour of the denominational school, and he had done so boldly because he was in favour of the denominational school.’ Of course, a policy such as that described by Mr. Birrell will be a great encouragement to the proselytizing efforts of the Church of Rome, in erecting Popish schools where the school accommodation is already ample for all the needs of the neighbourhood, in order that by their means they may teach Popery to Protestant children. Mr. Birrell even went so far as to urge that Parliament should give legislative sanction to his policy.”
Parliament and Monasteries.—In the House of Commons Mr. T. L. Corbett asked leave to bring in a Bill to appoint Commissioners to inquire as to the growth in numbers of conventual and monastic institutions in Great Britain and Ireland, and whether any further regulations of such institutions were required. He said there were now 1057 such institutions in England, 592 in Ireland, and 62 in Scotland. There were tens of thousands of men and women in them who had no appeal to or protection from the common law. Foreign Governments were alive to the dangers of such institutions to the State.—Mr. T. P. O’Connor said the hon. member was one of the gang in Ireland who were determined to fan into flame the dying embers of religious strife. By 235 to 72, the House refused leave to bring in the Bill. In connection with this matter, it may be of interest to know that the Protestant Alliance (Secretary, Henry Fowler, 430 Strand, London) is making a laudable effort to send up to Parliament in 1907, a petition of
one million signatures, praying Parliament to grant a Bill for Convent Inspection. Anyone interested in this matter can have the petitions for signatures from the Secretary, at the above address.
The Report of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline.—This report, so long looked for with intense interest by all interested in the Protestantism of the Church of England, has at last been issued. The following is the English Churchman’s remarks on it:—“It is so far satisfactory that the findings abundantly justify the complaints which aggrieved Protestant Church people have in vain laid before the Bishops, the Courts, and Parliament for many years. It should be known, however, that Commissioners stopped taking further evidence, stating that they had received sufficient for their purpose, although the Church Association—for instance—was prepared to produce evidence affecting nearly 400 more churches. The Association was also willing to continue to take evidence until the whole list of Ritualistic churches was exhausted. We believe it is, moreover, true that the National Protestant Church Union and the Church of England League had additional evidence at disposal. The inquiry was limited to one year, and this necessarily tended to narrow the purview of the Commission. The report, notwithstanding, decidedly admits that illegal Ritualism is undoubtedly on the increase, and that effective procedure for its repression is urgently required.
The United Free Assembly and Princess Ena.—Mr. Walsh, in the Protestant Observer, has the following criticism of the above:—“During the sitting of the General Assembly of the United Church of Scotland, the Report of the Committee on Romanism and Ritualism was presented. It contained the following paragraph:—‘The Assembly profoundly regret the prospective marriage of a Princess of the Royal House to the Sovereign of Spain, seeing that it has involved her renunciation of the national Protestant faith.’ One would have thought that in a Presbyterian Assembly such a very moderately worded expression of opinion would have been unanimously accepted. But no! On the motion of the Rev. Dr. Walter Ross Taylor, seconded by the Rev. David Imrie, of Dunfermline, the General Assembly agreed to leave out the paragraph! All I can say is, the members who voted for its rejection ought to be ashamed of themselves. If the paragraph had imputed unworthy motives to Princess Ena I could understand its rejection, but it did nothing of the kind. If they do not ‘profoundly regret’ the perversion of Princess Ena, I do not see why they should regret the perversion of ordinary men and women. If John Knox could have risen up in that General Assembly he would have hurled spiritual lightning and thunder at his unworthy descendants, until they would have shaken in their shoes with terror.”
Notes and Comments.
Free Church Assembly.—We omitted to mention in last issue that the Declaratory Act of 1892 was finally repealed at the last Assembly of the Free Church. Our only, but rather grave objection to this repeal is the preamble, in which it is declared that the Church “always adhered to her subordinate standards.” It has been the standing contention of Free Presbyterians that the Church, of which present Free Churchmen continued to form a part, departed from her subordinate standards by the passing and retention of the said Declaratory Act.
Canadian Presbyterians and Union.—A Toronto telegram says the Presbyterian Assembly, which has just met at London, Ontario, approved by an overwhelming majority the scheme for the union of all the churches of the Dominion. Some opposition was voiced. The Right Rev. David Williams, Bishop of Huron, in whose diocese the Assembly held its session, welcomes the resolution. The Bishop declares that such a union ought not to be and is not impossible. It is stated that many other clergymen of the Church of England in Canada take the same view. Out of 350 Commissioners present at the Canadian Assembly, only twenty voted against the motion to continue the negotiations with the Methodists and Congregationalists, and besides that, to ask the Baptists and Episcopalian if they too would not like to come in.
The Constitutional Presbytery.—A hundred years ago on the twenty-eighth of this month, a notable event took place in Scotland’s ecclesiastical history. This was the formation of the Constitutional Presbytery as a protest against the voluntary tendencies of the New Light party of the General (Antiburgher) Associate Synod. Thomas MacCrie was the most distinguished member of the Presbytery, and the controversy called forth his famous Statement, to which a reference will be made in next issue. The present United Original Secession Church trace their connection through the Constitutional Presbytery to the Secession of 1733, and are the legitimate heirs of the principles for which the Secession fathers contended, though this is often claimed by those formerly known as the United Presbyterians.
The Bible League.—This League, which has as its aim the reverent study of the Bible and the resistance of the varied attacks made upon the inspiration, infallibility, and sole sufficiency of the Scriptures as the Word of God, carries out its work by holding meetings in different parts of the country. Lectures by competent scholars are delivered with the purpose of showing the untenability of the higher criticism positions. The League publishes a Quarterly Journal, in which an account of its work may be found. The Secretary’s address is 186 Aldersgate Street, London, E.C.
Commendable Strictness.—Scott, in his Annals of the Original Secession Church, bears this honourable testimony to the Constitutional Presbytery above referred to:—”Whilst desirous that pulpit vacancies should be speedily filled, the members of Presbytery were not, Jeroboam-like, careless as to the manner of men they admitted, either to their Divinity Hall or their pulpits. Hence a would-be theological student they requested to turn his attention to some other calling, and several ministers who desired to join them, but concerning whose views and conduct they were not perfectly satisfied, were politely, though firmly informed their accession could not be received.”
Battle of Bothwell Brig.—The public press informs us that the 227th anniversary of the Battle of Bothwell Brig was observed in a field adjoining the memorial. The preacher was the Rev. Hector MacKinnon, Established Church, Shettleston. There were nearly 20,000 people present. This was one of the most sanguinary of the battles of the Covenant. The divided counsels of the leaders of the Covenanters were the chief cause of defeat. Four hundred perished, twelve hundred were taken prisoners and confined in Greyfriars Churchyard for five weary months. Some of these were executed, some died from exposure, others accepted liberty on humiliating terms. The rest, 257 in number, were banished to Barbadoes, but the vessel foundered at Orkney, and only fifty survived to be sent as slaves to the West Indies. How many, we wonder, of the 20,000 who gathered together last June to commemorate the 227th anniversary of the battle would have been on the side of the Covenant had they lived in 1679?
The Love of God.—The love of God cannot be apprehended in its length and breadth and height and depth—all of which pass knowledge—save as it is apprehended as the love of God who turns from the sight of sin with inexpressible abhorrence, and burns against it with unquenchable indignation. The infinitude of His love would be illustrated, not by His lavishing of His favour on sinners without requiring an expiation for sin, but by His—through such holiness and such righteousness as cannot but cry out with infinite abhorrence and indignation—still loving sinners so greatly that He provides a satisfaction for their sin adequate to these tremendous demands. It is the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity after all not that it preaches a God of love, but that it preaches a God of conscience.—Dr. Warfield in the Princeton Theological Review.