The Minutes of Evidence of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline.—The Commissioners have now published the minutes of evidence taken at the sittings of the Commission. They appear in the form of four Blue Books, and cover 1,831 pages. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of his Majesty, they form a State record of the lawless condition of things in the Established Church in the earlier years of the twentieth century, which the future historian of religion in England will know how to appreciate. The “Evidence” furnishes, in official form, the materials for another chapter in the mysterious narrative of “The Oxford Movement.”
Undue Familiarity with the Harlot of Rome.—One of the worst features of some of the leading religious journals of the present day is the sympathetic way in which they chronicle the doings of prominent Roman Catholic preachers. A chief transgressor in this direction is the British Weekly. This journal went into a state of hysterics over the ritualism of the Education Act, and in heroic leaders, gave an exposition of the “Non-conformist Conscience,” but still it can with smug consistency adorn its pages with sympathetic paragraphs referring to the sermons of Father Vaughan, a Jesuit priest, and Father Maturin, a pervert from the Church of England.—English Churchman.
Dr. Whyte and the Church of Rome.—Dr. Whyte is a broadminded man; he has taught the congregation of St. George’s, Edinburgh, to look up to Newman in the Romish and Father John in the Greek Church, and recently in connection with that ill-conceived and visionary scheme of prayer for the unity of all the churches in this country, Dr. Whyte not only prayed but preached. And in his sermon the antiquity, the nobility, grandeur, and stateliness of the Greek and Roman Churches were contrasted with the provincialism and general indecorum of Protestant Churches. But that is not all: Dr. Whyte is not only charitable after-his kind, but hopeful, and in the future he dreams of a reunion when Protestants are of a mind to admit thoughts that revel in the antique, sublime and grand. That a reunion will come some day we believe from God’s word, but when it does come, it will be on a grander scale than this, and it will certainly not move along the lines suggested by Dr. Whyte. The ingathering of Israel, when they shall come weeping and mourning for Him whom they crucified, will be a spiritual resurrection to the Gentile nations. This is a reunion worthy of the Christian minister’s thought; but these visionary dreams of reunion with Rome, may they never disturb our minds!
The Hope Trust, Edinburgh.—According to the Report of this Trust, the Protestant work for which it was instituted is being carried on vigorously. There were 15 lecturers who visited most of the towns and villages of Scotland on the mainland. Orkney, Shetland, and Lewis were also visited. Protestant Bible Classes were conducted in Edinburgh and Leith, the subjects taught being Blakeney’s Catechism, and the doctrines and principles of the Reformation. The Trust also distributed gratuitously every month 6,990 copies of the Bulwark, 4,400 copies of the Protestant Alliance Magazine, and 3,800 copies of the Protestant Observer. 254 copies of Hume Brown’s Life of Knox were distributed at the Knox demonstration, and 1,750 copies of Macarthy’s Protestant Scotland and Roman Catholic Ireland. A copy of Dr. Salmond’s interesting and instructive pamphlet, The Religious Condition of France, was also presented to every minister in Scotland, and to all the Presbyterian ministers in England and Ireland.
The Persecution of Heretics.—The Church of Rome in this country is at special pains to make us believe that her methods in punishing heretics are not now so severe. To those who are ready to believe this, a small pamphlet by Dr. C. H. H. Wright, the distinguished Biblical Scholar and Protestant Controversialist, may be recommended. It is entitled the Persecution of Heretics, and is made up of extracts from a work of Pater Marianus de Luca, Professor of Dectrals in the Gregorian University of Rome. It is published by the Protestant Reformation Society, and may be had at their offices, 57 Berners Street, London, W., for 21/2d., post free.