Nation-Destroying Storms.
The phrase is Dr. Owen’s, and is peculiarly appropriate in connection with the awful tempest of destruction let loose upon the French and British armies in France, during March and April. Never in warfare has there been a parallel to what occurred in these fateful weeks. The nation at home has been awakened out of its unconcern, and realised, in some degree at any rate, that the fate of the mightiest empire the world has ever seen was in the balance. As the fearful onset of our enemies developed, men were possessed with strange fears, and the thought of the terrific ordeal through which our soldiers were passing made men hold their breath. The Germans have delivered a terrible blow, though they failed to accomplish their purpose. As a result of it there is sorrow in thousands of homes, and never was there more need for the nation and sorrowing relatives looking to the Lord, strong and mighty in battle, and at the same time the God of all comfort.
Converted Heathen and the Sabbath.
The Synod of the native Church of Uganda, at a meeting at the beginning of the year, appealed to the Governor of Uganda to put a stop to unnecessary Sabbath labour, especially that occasioned by the travelling of officials on the Lord’s Day, seeing that so many porters were required to carry their baggage, etc. It is quite within the range of probability that missionaries from Africa will require to come to this country to teach us some of the elementary truths of Christianity, if things continue drifting as they do. It is lamentable that the representatives of a so-called Christian nation should require to have such an appeal made to them, and it is to the credit of the natives that the boasted superiority of the white man over them, did not keep them from discharging their duty as Christians, and exercising their rights, as subjects, of a mightier King than Britain’s King.
New Forms of Sabbath Desecration.
The War has been made the excuse of many new forms of Sabbath desecration. It is with profound regret that one sees the Secretary for Scotland (Mr. Munro) figuring on platforms on the Lord’s Day, pleading for money for the War Loan. Mr. Munro had an upbringing that might have taught him a little more respect for the Sabbath. Another instance, in the same downgrade direction, is to be found in the giving of lectures on secular subjects on the Lord’s Day. For instance, two lectures on bee-keeping were recently advertised to be delivered to the Kent Bee-keepers’ Association, on two successive Sabbaths. The efforts to secularize the Sabbath are thus proceeding apace, and we need to pray that God would arise and plead His own cause.
The Vatican and Treachery to the Allies.
Dr. Robertson, Venice, writing in the April Bulwark, says:—”It is a significant thing that never a traitor has been apprehended and brought to justice in any of the Allied countries, but it has come out in evidence that he had been in relationship with the Vatican. It was so in Italy. Monsignor Gerlach, who, last August, was sentenced to penal servitude for life for espionage, for financing pro-German newspapers and pro-German conspirators in Rome with money he received from Berlin, was one of the Pope’s private chamberlains. Mario Pomerici, who was condemned to death, and Archita Valente, who was sentenced to penal servitude for life, were the paid agents of Monsignor Gerlach. Bolo and Cavallini, who have just been condemned to death in France for high treason by a military tribunal, were notoriously allied with Papal intriguers. So also was Porchieri, sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Caillaux, ex-Chief of the French Ministry, as has come out in his trial, was in relation with the Vatican, with which he had arranged to restore French diplomatic representation.”
Rome’s Work in Australia, Canada, and Ireland.
In the same article Dr. Robertson continues:—”In Australia it was the Archbishop, Dr. Mannix, who, as Mr. Hughes declared, ‘preached sedition in and out of season,’ and sought to ‘lead his flock along the path of sedition.’ In Canada it is Sir W. Laurier, the Roman Catholic, who has led the French Canadians against the Government, and who, had he been successful, would have stopped our supply of Canadian soldiers. And in Ireland, as the world knows, it is priests who are at the bottom of all its trouble. At many of the meetings of the Sinn Fein traitors and rebels, priests have presided. In Germany, quite recently, Count Hertling was appointed to the Chancellorship—a man who all his life has been in intimate connection with the Vatican. No doubt Kaiser and Pope arranged this appointment so that the German Government and the Vatican, its ally, may work more easily and efficiently together against us.”