RESOLUTIONS ON PUBLIC MATTERS.
THIS Presbytery met in Glasgow on the 7th October. There were present Revs. Ewen Macqueen, Kames (Moderator); Neil Cameron, St. Jude’s, Glasgow; and James S. Sinclair, John Knox’s (Clerk), ministers; with Messrs. Angus Macrae, St. Jude’s; and John Auld, John Knox’s, elders. Rev. Norman Matheson, Halkirk, Caithness, was also associated with the Presbytery.
Among other business, the subject of sending a preacher to Scottish and Highland Forces in England was taken up, and it was agreed to send the Rev. Ewen Macqueen, Kames, to conduct a Gaelic and English mission at several military centres, such as Bedford, Portsmouth, Chatham, etc., for six weeks, another minister to follow at the end of this period. Mr. Macqueen expressed his willingness to go, the Presbytery arranging for the supply of his congregation in his absence. The Thanksgiving Day for the Harvest was appointed to be held (D.V.) on the 25th or 26th November, within the bounds of the Presbytery.
It was also agreed to appoint a committee, consisting of the Revs. N. Cameron and J. S. Sinclair to draw up, in the name of the Presbytery, a petition to the Government to ask His Majesty the King to appoint a National Fast-Day in view of the terrible war presently proceeding, and also to send an Appeal to the Glasgow Magistrates against the publication and circulation of newspapers on the Lord’s Day. The following are the Petition and Appeal which have been drawn up and forwarded:—
PETITION FOR A NATIONAL FAST-DAY.
The Presbytery, while fully convinced of the justice of the part taken by Great Britain in the great conflict now proceeding on the European Continent, and while earnestly praying for the success of the brave Allied Forces engaged therein, feel bound to direct attention to the solemn fact that war is at all times a terrible scourge, the outbreak of which constitutes a call to searching of heart and ways, self-humiliation, and confession of sins before God, as well as presents an occasion for prayer for divine help and deliverance. The Presbytery would therefore humbly but earnestly petition the Government to ask His Majesty the King to appoint a National Day of Humiliation and Prayer, if so be that the Most High, in His mercy, would bring to a speedy end the present strife and bloodshed in a manner that would be for His own glory and the highest good of this nation and the other nations involved.
APPEAL TO MAGISTRATES AGAINST NEWSPAPERS ON THE LORD’S DAY.
The Southern Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland desires to raise its solemn protest against the proceedings of certain Glasgow newspapers in printing and publishing news, and in hawking war editions of their papers through the streets on the Lord’s Day since the present war began. The Presbytery would point out that these proceedings have been the occasion of much alarm and grief to many of the inhabitants, and would remind the Magistrates that, as fathers of the city, they are under divine obligation, by the Fourth Commandment, to see to it that “all within their gates” shall rest on the Lord’s Day. This Presbytery solemnly and strongly protests against these forms of Sabbath desecration, and appeals to the Magistrates in its own name and in the name of all God-fearing citizens to put a stop to such sinful and sacriligious practices.