Dr Fosdick on British Religious Opinions.—This American divine, who is the storm-centre in the Presbyterian Church of America, has been giving his views to an American newspaper on his return from visiting this country. In this interview, says the “Presbyterian,” Dr Fosdick speaks of Liberalism in religion in Great Britain, both England and Scotland. He states that the church people are amazed at the state of religion in the churches of America. They are especially surprised at fundamentalism in the American churches. They declare that they passed through this stage of the discussion, and are now far in advance of it, and are in hearty accord with Dr Fosdick, and treated him with royal honour, and pressed him so hard that he delivered sixty addresses in sixty days. Of course, Dr Fosdick is speaking about those whom he met and were favourable to him, but fortunately
there are still in England and Scotland a goodly number who detest liberalism in religion as they do poison, but while saying this, we regret there is too much truth in his words to be palatable to those who love the truth of God set forth in the Bible.
Fundamentalists and Modernists.—The difference between the position of the Fundamentalists and the Modernists has been summed up as follows:—Fundamentalists hold—(1) that the Bible is the Word of God; (2) That Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God; (3) That the birth of Jesus was supernatural; (4) That the death of the Son, Jesus, was expiatory; (5) Man is the product of special creation by God; (6) Man is a sinner fallen from original righteousness, and, apart from God’s redeeming grace, is hopelessly lost; (7) Man is justified by faith and renewed by supernatural regeneration from above. Modernists hold:—(1) The Bible contains the Word of God; (2) Jesus Christ is a Son of God in the same sense which all men are; (3) The birth of Jesus was natural; (4) The death of Jesus was exemplary; (5) Man is the product of evolution; (6) Man is the unfortunate victim of his circumstances, but through self-culture can “make good;” (7) Man is justified by works in following Christ’s example. It will be seen from the foregoing how unscriptural modernist doctrines are, and how dishonouring to God and His truth.
Roman Catholic Ambassadors.—From an American monthly we learn that the British Ambassador at Washington is a Roman Catholic. “It is not generally known,” says this monthly, “that with the exception of Germany and Japan, every Ambassadorial position in Washington is filled by a Roman Catholic. Such a situation is of more than passing interest. The fact that Roman Catholics form the overwhelming majority of the diplomatic representatives at the capital of one of the greatest of Protestant Powers is ominous.”
New Features.—Under this sub-heading the Editor of the United Free Church “Record” announces his programme for the coming year. His readers are to be taught “truth through fiction,” and one of the new features is a serial story. In the October issue he promises the first of a series of playlets designed to bring out in dramatic form some aspect of the work in the mission fields. “Some of these developments,” adds the Editor, may not commend themselves to all readers, but they are being introduced from a sincere desire to secure the interest of a wider circle, and especially to capture the imagination and the service of the new generation.”
A Bad Appointment.—Canon Barnes, who has made himself notorious by his modernistic utterances, has received the appointment to the Bishopric of Birmingham. In one of his sermons he said—”The Old Testament is Jewish literature. In it are to be found folklore, defective history, half-savage morality, obsolete forms of worship based on primitive and erroneous ideas of the nature of God, and crude science.” He is a thorough-going evolutionist. “In spite of the first chapters of Genesis,” he says in another sermon—”The stories of the special creation of man by God, and of the Fall, have become incredible.” And at a meeting of the Modern Churchmen’s Conference held at Oxford, the Bishop-designate boldly and unblushingly advocated evolution. The Church of England, he said, was coming rapidly to accept evolution. In his sermon preached to the members of the Conference, the Canon gave utterance to the following daringly unscriptural sentiments:—”Man we know to be a cousin of the apes, but God had separated man from the other products of earth’s teeming womb by giving him power to share divine attributes not by reason of his origin, but because he had come to know and serve God.” What with Ritualism on the one hand and the encouragement it recently received in the appointment of the notorious Dr Frere to the Bishopric of Truro and Modernism, on the other hand, and the encouragement it has now received in the appointment of Canon Barnes to the Bishopric of Birmingham, the Church of England has not its sorrows to seek. All who love Scriptural truth must feel deeply grieved at the appointment of such men to places of trust in the Church.
The Bible on the Screen.—Under this heading one of our weeklies informs us that the Bible in serial form is shortly to be issued for the cinemas. A private view, the paragraph goes on to inform us, has already been given in London for the first six pictures, which cover the creation, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, the Deluge, and the story of Abraham. Satan has for long been making very effective use of the cinema, and now he has put it into the minds of the managers of the film world and the actors and actresses who distort themselves before the camera that Bible history will draw large houses. Satan as an angel of light quoting Scripture and using the Bible for his own purpose is much more dangerous than when he appears in his true nature.
Sabbath Observance in Australia.—It is encouraging to know from a newspaper cutting sent us that there are still some in the Presbyterian Church of
Australia who have the courage of their convictions on Sabbath observance. Some time ago the Governor of Victoria, the Earl of Stradbroke, held a reception and tennis party at Government House on the Sabbath. A motion by the Rev. Donald Dow, protesting against the Governor’s action was brought forward at a meeting of the General Assembly held in Melbourne. An amendment couched in milder terms refusing to express any opinion on the action of the Governor was lost. The Moderator opposed Mr Dow’s motion, saying that neither John Knox, nor John Calvin, nor the Apostle Paul, would have voted for the motion. Calvin, he said, had visited Knox on a Sabbath and found him playing a game of bowls. He would be ashamed, as Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, he said, to vote for the motion. He accordingly moved an amendment deleting reference to the Governor, and substituting a more general appeal for Sabbath observance. This amendment was also lost. After considerable discussion, the following motion became the finding of the Assembly:—
“That, in view of the deplorable tendency toward the desecration of the Lord’s Day, this assembly, having had brought under its notice that the kindly courtesies of Government House were made use of on a recent ‘Sunday’ for the playing of tennis, and believing that the privileges of the Christian Sabbath are of supreme value to the religious life of the community, and being assured of His Excellency’s sympathy with that belief, cannot but express its regret that an incident occurred that is liable to a wrong construction as to his Excellency’s attitude, and inadvertently it may encourage the tendency to disregard the Lord’s Day as a day of rest and worship.”
The Moderator-General of the Australian Presbyterian Church and Knox.—In the preceding note, Dr Mathew, the Moderator-General of the Australian Presbyterian Church, repeated the old charge that Calvin, on a visit to Knox, found the latter playing at bowls on the Sabbath. The Moderator-General, however, like so many of the retailers of canards, has mixed up things somewhat. The story may be traced back to Disraeli, who wrote:—”At Geneva a tradition exists that when John Knox visited Calvin on a ‘Sunday,’ he found his austere coadjutor bowling on a green.” Hessey, in his Bampton Lectures, takes up the tale, and says:—”Knox was the intimate friend of Calvin—visited Calvin, and it is said, on one occasion found him enjoying the recreation of bowls on ‘Sunday.'” Dean
Stanley further improves on the tale, and finally we have the Moderator-General of the Australian Presbyterian Church, saying that Calvin found Knox playing bowls on Sabbath. The story has no historical foundation either in relation to Calvin or Knox, and is traceable to a late tradition, which in the minds of careless writers has been accepted as true history. By such methods the memory of good men is blackened.