Great Britain and Mahometanism.—It is a matter of gratification to the people of this country that, as a result of the war, Egypt has become a British possession, but to right-thinking persons among us, it is painful to observe that our Government takes too much responsibility for Mahometan institutions in that country. In a letter to the new Sultan of Egypt, our Acting High Commissioner says—”The strengthening and progress of Mahometan institutions in Egypt is naturally a matter in which His Majesty’s Government takes the deepest interest . . . and in carrying out such reforms as may be considered necessary, your Highness may count upon the sympathetic support of His Majesty’s Government.” What right has the British Government to support Mahometanism? The “reforms” referred to are not reforms away from that evil system. Britain is incurring great guilt in contributing to the progress of Mahometan institutions as well as Popish. We would be much better employed nationally in sending the Bible and the Gospel of Christ to the poor deluded followers of Mahomet.
The Pope and the Belgians.—In a letter to Cardinal Mercier, the Pope expresses his admiration of the piety of the Belgians for, notwithstanding the weight “of so many calamities they propose to gather in this year as in former years the Pence of St. Peter to aid the necessity of the Holy See.” Everybody has been thinking that the Belgians were at the utmost limits of destitution, and large contributions are being given from this country. What if a considerable portion of these go to the Pope? It would look more like Christianity if the so-called “Holy See” would send a large donation to help destitute Belgians. But the Papacy is notorious for cruelty and greed as well as other forms of iniquity.
The Italian Earthquake.—The month of January has witnessed a great earthquake in Italy, about 50 miles from the city of Rome. About 30,000 people have lost their lives. The earthquake affected Rome itself, and a large number of panes in St. Peter’s Cathedral was broken. The shock was felt in the Vatican—perhaps the presage of a greater shock yet to come. May the Most High speedily cast down “the Man of Sin!” Too long has he made the nations drunk with the wine of delusion.
Savage Bigotry.—Professor David Smith, in a recent issue of the British Weekly, in replying to a correspondent desiring a statement of the five points of Calvinism, begins his answer in the following words:—”The five points are a monument of the savage bigotry which prevailed in the Post-Reformation Church.” We do not profess to quite understand what Professor Smith means by “savage bigotry” in this connection, but the expression seems to suggest that the five points of Calvinism are a yoke under which the Derry instructor keenly smarts. If we interpret him aright, it is to be hoped that something of the good, old salutary discipline
that used to characterise the Irish Presbyterian Church will be applied to the man who is eating the bread of a Church whose doctrinal teaching is built up on these same five points. The correspondence column of the British Weekly was previously conducted by one who proved a wandering star, and all the signs seem to indicate that Professor David Smith is quite willing to follow him in his unsettled and unsettling theological wanderings.
Is Saul also among the Prophets?—We read with pleasure and with no small surprise the following sentences in the December number of The Record, of the United Free Church:—“The revolution of feeling against Germany in this country may be a great gain in one direction. Our theology has been too much saturated with German thought and speculation. How much of the unbelief of recent years and the empty churches have been due to the attitude adopted as a result of the subjection to German theorists one cannot say, but it is certain that their teaching, based as it is on the assumption that everything of the nature of miracle must be unhistoric, has influenced British religious life for the worse. Our theology, it is to be hoped, will now go back to sounder lines and substitute plain thinking and simple gospel for theories ‘made in Germany.’”
Mr. Livingston, the editor, must have taken his courage in both hands when he penned these sentences. No Church in Scotland fell so quickly and so fatally under the spell of German theology of a bad type as did the United Free Church. And though she has among her teachers and ministers those who have not bowed the knee to the German idol, yet it cannot be denied that much of the teaching given to candidates for the ministry was “too much saturated with German thought and speculation.” If this mighty upheaval have the end desired by Mr. Livingston then truly it will not have been in vain. It looks impossible, but if the Holy Spirit were to work gloriously not only the United Free Church but all the Churches in Britain would substitute “simple gospel for theories made in Germany.”
Prayers for the Dead in the Established Church.—A discussion has recently arisen with regard to prayers for the dead, out of the terms of the appointment made, with the King’s approval, of the first Sabbath of January as a Day of Intercession in connection with the War. The terms made reference to “the remembrance” of those that have died. Some one who signed “Vigilantibus” wrote to the Scotsman about a “Form and Order of Service” issued lately by the Established Church, and the following letter, which speaks for itself, appeared in reply:—
“PRAYERS FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED.
9th January, 1915.
Sir,—In reply to ‘Vigilantibus,’ who inquires if ‘prayers for the faithful departed’ have for the first time been introduced into the services of the Church of Scotland by the recently issued
‘Form and Order of Service,’ &c., I may inform him that as one who has been a parish minister for more than forty years, I have all that time in public worship used such prayers, and have heard other parish ministers do the same. ‘Vigilantibus’ evidently does not belong to the communion of the Church of Scotland, and, like many such, has strange notions as to what the worship of that Church is.—I am, &c.,
A PARISH MINISTER.”