Protestantism in Spain.—There are not wanting signs in this dark benighted land that a better day is coming. Not so long ago Protestants rejoiced in learning that the heroic Spanish sailor, who refused to bow to the Host, had been released from imprisonment. Another incident shows the drift of events. Col. Labrador, who is a Presbyterian, refused to preside over a Court Martial because it would have been preceded by a Mass. He was also imprisoned. The outcome of the matter, however, is that a Cabinet Council at Madrid approved of a measure which makes for increased religious toleration in the Spanish army. Henceforth officers selected to try offences against military law will be absolved from the necessity of attending the Mass of the Holy Ghost before the proceedings begin. Only recently King Alfonso signed a decree regarding religious instruction in schools. Such religious instruction is decreed to be obligatory, but scholars, whose parents do not profess the Roman Catholic religion, are exempted.
The Presbyterians of Ireland and Home Rule.—There can be no doubt that the Presbyterians, in common with the other Protestant denominations in Ireland, are in deadly earnest about the question of Home Rule. At their General Assembly a motion against Home Rule was carried by a majority of over nine hundred, as opposed to an amendment in support of Home Rule, which received only a little over forty votes. The action of the Assembly in the matter was considered imperative by reason of persistent misrepresentation of their action last year when the Assembly, for the sake of peace, deemed it wise to have no discussion of the question. There need be no longer any doubt of the seriousness of the situation, and the politicians, who are determined to pass this measure into law, notwithstanding opposition arising from the deep religious convictions of so many of Ireland’s best citizens, are guilty of a course which the coming years may reveal to be infatuated madness. We take very little interest in the matter from the purely political side, though we readily acknowledge politicians have shown good reasons why Home Rule should not be granted. Our opposition to the Bill is purely religious, and we cannot help feeling that it is the religious element in the matter that may yet prove to be such a serious matter for Britain and Ireland and her callous-minded statesmen, who are light-heartedly pressing on the matter to the bitter, and, we believe, disastrous end.
The Irish National Schools and the Second Commandment.—The publication, says the Church of Ireland Gazette, of the correspondence between a Belfast Presbyterian minister—the Rev. W. Corkey—and the Board of National
Education reveals a surprising state of things. The Board have issued a copy of the Ten Commandments for hanging up in National schools which omits the word “image” from the Second Commandment, and also omits the line “Thou shalt not bow down to them.” This inexcusable tampering with the Decalogue to suit the susceptibilities of the Roman Catholic Church is not the whole of their strange procedure in this matter. They have refused to allow a correct copy of the Commandments to be displayed in Protestant schools. This refusal is the more monstrous since in Roman Catholic schools they allow sectarian emblems and statues to be placed. Protestant managers then, even in an exclusively Protestant school, cannot have on the walls during school hours any copy of the Ten Commandments except one mutilated to screen Roman religious delinquencies. This is an illuminative example of the fair play Protestantism would receive in Ireland under the control of the Roman Hierarchy.
A Bad Movement—Abolishing the Fast Day.—During last month there were movements in the above direction in two of our northern towns, Inverness and Wick; happily for the present both miscarried. In the case of Inverness the matter was brought forward by the Kirk-Session of the High Church, and at a meeting of office-bearers conferred to discuss the question, it was found that there was an element of opposition sufficiently strong and influential to make the innovators leave the matter for the meantime. At this conference a great deal was heard of the scandal of how the Fast-days had been turned into a holiday, and it was argued that because of this Fast-days should be abolished. Some of the innovators held that it was their concern for the Lord’s Day that made them so anxious to do away with this so-called scandal of holiday-making Fast-days. The force of this argument is somewhat difficult to see, and we make bold to say that it is those who are most concerned for the Lord’s Day that would seek to maintain the Fast-days. As for the argument that the Fast-days should be abolished because they were so much used by the holiday-makers, there was much point in Mr. Barron’s remark (editor of the Inverness Courier), that this is a reason why they should endeavour to get the Fast-day better observed instead of abolishing it. This seems more in line with the scriptural injunction of strengthening the things that remain and are ready to die. The Wick motion came up in the Town Council, but it lost the day. Still, though there has been a backset for the time being, there can be very little doubt that the stream is flowing strongly in favour of the innovators, and what they have failed to accomplish now may be only a matter of time, unless a great change comes over the minds of the people in the North of Scotland. These movements are symptomatic of the secularising influences of the age and are not indicative of earnestness in religion.
Overseers of the Flock.—When one considers the manner in which ecclesiastics in high positions so often conduct themselves, the distance between the New Testament minister and them seems almost immeasurable. A well-deserved rebuke administered by the English Churchman to two bishops is interesting, though it saddens the heart to think of bishops in such company, especially for such ends:—”The union of the Church and Stage appears to produce the results that might naturally be expected. The world does not rise to meet the Church, but the Church descends to the ways of the world. This is what took place at the annual dinner of the Royal General Theatrical Fund, over which the Bishop of London presided, and at which the former Bishop of Ripon, Dr. Boyd Carpenter, was one of the speakers. Neither bishop, according to the report of the proceedings, gave any indication of his connection with the religion of Christ. The Bishop of London, in a rollicking speech, claimed the title of ‘everybody’s bishop,’ and he explained his right to be the bishop of actors and actresses by saying that he was a frequenter of theatres, and that ‘at his parties at Fulham nobody thought he had done them properly unless he treated them to a theatre once a week—at least a matinée.’ The other bishop was, as might be expected, more sedate, but he as studiously avoided spiritual things. He said that ‘the actor and the clergyman had come together, and had found that neither was as black as the other had painted him.’ If by ‘black’ he meant solemn and earnest, deeply concerned about the eternal welfare of souls, and never ashamed of the Lord’s service, then it is probable that such are not to be found at theatres or actors’ entertainments. Men of that type do not attend functions like the dinner to which we refer.”
Remarkable Tribute to the Authorised Version of the Bible.—Sir Arthur Quiller Couch, King Edward VII. Professor of Literature at Cambridge, delivered an exceptionally interesting lecture on the English Bible as literature, in which he described it as “the greatest book of English prose”; and in a leading article the Daily Chronicle (17th May, 1913), in calling attention to this pronouncement, says: “No one will dispute its title to that pre-eminence. What a marvel it is that this matchless translation, with its noble majesty, its glorious poetry, its divine simplicity, its ecstasy, its pathos, its tenderness—every chapter instinct with beauty, every verse ringing like a sweet-toned bell—should have been produced by forty-seven men, none of them, as Sir Arthur reminds us, celebrated, outside their share in translation, for any superlative achievement.” We welcome such a pronouncement especially for the reason that it strengthens the case of those who desire that the Bible should be systematically taught in our schools. We readily recognise that the authorised version as the chief book in English prose is not the main thing for which the believer values his Bible, but it will make the
translation none the less valuable to him to be told, on the authority of one occupying such a position as Sir Arthur Quiller Couch, that he has in his hands the greatest book in the prose literature of his country.
Centenary of William Huntington, S.S.—Some of our readers have heard of this remarkable man and have read his books, “Kingdom of Heaven Taken by Prayer” and “Bank of Faith.” The first day of July, 1913, is the hundredth anniversary of his death, and some, who revere his memory, have arranged to hold meetings on that day in the Grove Chapel, Camberwell, London, with a view to recall his labours and the doctrines of grace which he impressively preached. Huntington’s memory has suffered from certain peculiarities in his character and teaching, but these things apart, it cannot be doubted that he was a very remarkable man of God, whose labours were much blessed in the conversion and edification of many. During his closing years he ministered to a vast congregation of several thousand people in London, gathered from all quarters and all ranks and classes, many of whom were truly godly. He wrote a number of books, one of the best in addition to those mentioned, being entitled “Contemplations of the God of Israel.” His “Letters” published after his death, are also highly prized as a treasury of spiritual experience. He entered into rest on the first of July, 1812, at the age of sixty-seven years. We observe that Messrs. Farncombe & Sons, London (see advertisement on cover), are issuing a new edition of Huntington’s “Bank of Faith” at a cheap price. If any of our readers who have not seen the work, want a treat by way of reading a series of extraordinary providential deliverances, described in an attractive and felicitous manner by a man truly taught of God, let them not fail in purchasing the book. Mr. Huntington has been not unfitly described as, in some respects, a second Bunyan.
“Bible Readings for the Home Circle”—a Warning.
—A correspondent in the west of Ross-shire has sent us for perusal a copy of a large volume with this title, which has been sold by a colporteur in that part of the Highlands. Most probably the sale has extended more or less all over the country. Many people have been incautious enough to purchase it who did not realise the nature of its contents. In “the Preface” the publishers profess to believe that the Bible is the word of God, and assert that nothing should be maintained as a matter of belief but what is in harmony therewith. They say that “it has been the plan of the work to let the sacred volume stand as its own witness,” and they assume an appearance of orthodoxy that is fitted to mislead the unwary. When the book, however, is closely and carefully examined, we find that it is teeming with erroneous and dangerous interpretations of Scripture. The writers, whoever they are, hold the principle of the Seventh-day Sabbath in New
Testament times, they also maintain that the souls, both of the just and the unjust, are extinguished at death, and not revived until the resurrection, while they have no proper doctrine of Christ’s atonement. These are only some of the serious deviations from truth it contains. The book is got up in a very subtle manner, with profuse, but to our view, repulsive illustrations, many scenes being represented with the figure of Christ in them, and with quotations from evangelical hymns sprinkled here and there. We would warn our readers against this poisonous publication, and have no difficulty in recommending them to “light the fire” with it.