Easter.
One of the most apparent signs of the Anglicising of Scottish Presbyterianism is to be seen in the increasing attention that is given year by year to the observance of Easter. No doubt this festival was taken over from paganism with a pious purpose, but why should Presbyterians, who cast off the trinkets of Rome, return to the observance of Easter? If we are specially anxious to remember Christ’s resurrection we have fifty-two days set apart in the year for that purpose. Heath, in his Romance of Symbolism, says:—”We now keep Easter at the time when our pagan forefathers used to sacrifice to the goddess Eostre (the Astoreth or Astarte of the Phoenicians), and hot cross-buns may well be the descendants of cakes once eaten in her honour, on which, the symbol of Christianity has taken the place of some heathen sign.” It is encouraging to learn from the British Baker that there are bakers in England who absolutely refuse to bake these buns on principle. Scotland, too, has some who do the same. But in these days of levelling down, men need moral courage to act against prevailing opinions.
Love of Sport.
Much has been said about the extraordinary love of sport which characterises our generation. If any positive proof were required it is to be found in the fact that a crowd of close on 130,000 spectators gathered to witness the great international football match in Glasgow. All this took place at a time when the country was passing through a great crisis. All this did nothing to cool the enthusiasm of the thousands who gathered to witness a game played by over a score of their fellows. We have no objection to innocent games and pleasures, but when it is borne in mind that the most serious talk of thousands upon thousands of young men throughout the country rises to no higher level than the discussion of the latest results on the football field, it becomes a serious menace to the sobriety of mind that ought to characterise men endowed with reason. Then there are the evils of gambling and drink so closely associated with the game. Looking at the matter in as lenient a way as possible, we cannot get past the fact that the whole affair makes it very plain that we are more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God—which in itself is a heavy indictment.
Conduct of Our King During the Coal Strike.
It is a matter to be noted with pleasure that during the great stress through which the country passed during the coal strike, our King, in cancelling many engagements in which pleasure was mainly the chief aim, set a highly commendable example to his subjects. Royalty would be the very last to feel the pinch of want that was felt in many a home, and it is all the more creditable to our King that he should have acted as he did. We also noted with pleasure that the report, so widely circulated, that the Prince of Wales was to attend race meetings on the Lord’s Day while in Paris, is now officially contradicted. No doubt, the Royal House are too prominently associated with the race-course, but it would be still more painful to all right-thinking men to learn that the Prince of Wales, who, in the providence of God, may be our future King, had abandoned himself to such damagingly reckless desecration of the Lord’s Day.
The Belfast Meeting.
One of the most impressive meetings ever convened in Ireland met last month in Belfast to protest against Home Rule. The meeting was opened with devotional exercises, and the speeches by the prominent leaders were pitched in a high tone and exhibited deep sympathy with the Protestants of Ulster, who are determined to oppose Home Rule to the uttermost. It had become customary to make sport of the Ulster opposition to Home Rule, but most now realise that the Protestants of the North of Ireland are in dead earnest. Politicians in favour of Home Rule have done their utmost to make the country believe that Home Rule is not a religious question, but no one who has given any serious study to the question can get away from the fact that for hundreds of thousands of the people of Britain it is here the question assumes its most serious aspect. Every true Protestant, we are sure, whatever his politics may be, cannot but view with the deepest concern the action of the present Government in introducing the Home Rule Bill, and their prayer will be that the God who rules over the assemblies of nations will cause this Bill to be wrecked. The moral impression made by the Belfast demonstration upon the British people has been very profound. No government, however powerful, can afford to ignore a people so deadly earnest.
A Salutary Way of Dealing with Ritualism.
Last month the Established Church Synod of Aberdeen had before it an appeal at the instance of Rev. Jacob Primmer against the decision of the Kincardine O’Neil Presbytery regarding a memorial table or altar erected in Crathie Church. Mr. Primmer alleged that this table was of an idolatrous character, but his petition was dismissed by the Presbytery and also by the Synod. We notice with pleasure that the finding had the following sequel as reported in the Aberdeen Free Press:—”We have authority for stating that a gentleman who had formed a bequest of £30,000 for the Aged and Infirm Ministers of the Church of Scotland in Aberdeenshire, has in view of the decision come to by the Synod last Tuesday with regard to the Crathie memorial, cancelled the document creating the trust. The sum in question, £30,000, was to be put in trust and the income was to be administered on behalf of the Aged and Infirm Ministers of Aberdeenshire. The donor is connected with Aberdeenshire, and he desired to associate his name with the county in this permanent way. The trust would have borne his name and become operative upon his decease. As a member of the Church of Scotland he has been following the Crathie case with close interest. He has kept himself informed of the course of the proceedings, and in view of the decision of the Synod and of the attitude taken up by that body, he had altered the proposed disposition of his estate and withdrawn his bequest to the ministers of Aberdeenshire.” It is stated that the gentleman in question is Lord Garioch, only son of the Earl of Mar and Kellie. A few such withdrawals might have a sobering effect upon members of Synods and Presbyteries, even though they failed to teach them loyalty to the Presbyterianism of their Church.
The Instrumental Music Cult.
There was an interesting editorial article on “Congregational Singing,” says the English Churchman, in the Musical Times for last month. Although it approaches the subject from the standpoint of the critic, yet it contains much that appeals to churchgoers in general. Of late, even in Evangelical Churches, the domination of the organist and choir have become well-nigh intolerable. Many are longing for a return to quiet and devotional services, in which there will be a far deeper sense of reality and far less of performance and parade. They would fain have the privilege of prayer without the distraction of a running accompaniment upon the organ, and they long for praise in which all who are naturally qualified could take their part. The following extract from the article to which we have referred shows that this longing is by no means limited to the unmusical portion of the worshippers. The writer says, “It is an apparent paradox, but none the less actually true, that whereas churches are nowadays vying with each other in the elaborateness of their music, many really musical church attendants are earnestly seeking out where they may find the plainest service.” This is specially interesting coming from an Episcopalian source, even though it be a Low Church. It shows what instrumental music may mean in the service of the sanctuary when it once gets a place.
Where the Higher Criticism Leads to.
Some of the correspondence of the late Dr. Marcus Dods has just been published by his son. We call attention to the following: “I am a backslider. I used to enjoy prayer, but for years I have found myself dumb. Of course, one can always make a prayer, as I do every morning for my class; but prayer in the sense of asking for things has not been in my case a proved force. The things I have chiefly prayed for all my life I have not got. Communion with the Highest and consideration of Christ are, of course, efficacious to some extent, but I pray now not because my own experience gives me any encouragement, but only because of Christ’s example and command.” Further, in a letter written in 1902, Dr. Dods says: “I wish I could live as a spectator through the next generation to see what they are going to make of things. There will be a grand turn up in matters theological, and the Churches won’t know themselves fifty years hence. It is to be hoped some little rag of faith may be left when all is done. For my own part, I am sometimes entirely under water and see no sky at all.”