“The Religion of Freemasonry.”
A number of Northern papers recently reported a sermon on this subject by the Rev. Donald Macleod, B.D., M.C., Inverness, and a Companion of the Royal Arch Chapter of Inverness-shire. Mr Macleod chose as his text Luke ix. 49-50, and at the conclusion of his sermon is reported to have said:—”Those who knew what Masonry was doing, made bold to reply to those who would discount its religious influences and virtue, in the words of his text—’Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name: and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not; for he that is not against us is for us.'” We submit that a Mason could scarcely have chosen a more unfortunate text in the whole of the New Testament as a defence of the religious practices of the Craft, and an answer to the attack of its opponents. Where in all the official ritual and religious exercises of Freemasonry is the name of Christ ever mentioned? And who ever heard of Masonry casting out devils in Christ’s name? Mr Macleod, in meeting the charge that the religion of Freemasonry is not distinctively Christian, says the same objection might be taken to practically every system of knowledge and art. Mr Macleod misses the point of the criticism levelled against the religion of Freemasonry. Masonry has a system of faith and practice, otherwise, what does it mean by its profession in a Divine Being, its religion, its oaths, its altars, its prayers, its religious ritual, and its chaplains, but it is a system which aims at bringing men into right relation with God without reference to the person and work of Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit. If any system of knowledge, such as Positivism, with its religion of Humanity, or art took up a similar position it would be the duty of the Christian to oppose it with every legitimate weapon within his reach. Mr Macleod may deceive himself and others by asserting that Masonry is working along Christian lines. This is mere camouflage, as has been clearly shown already in our pages, and will not deceive the well instructed. We suggest that Mr Macleod might have chosen as a text, another saying of our Lord’s, which certainly would be more appropriate, viz., “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad” (Matt. xii. 30).
Poisoning the Wells for the Young.
“The Children’s Newspaper” has swallowed Sir Arthur Keith’s Presidential Address at the British Association without the slightest hesitation. One would imagine from its article, entitled “Man and His Million Years,” that there was no fact so clearly established as man’s ascent from the lower animals. Here is one of the most popular and most instructive papers ever printed for children, and this is what it says:—”One thing stands out from the great summing-up of modern knowledge in the Presidential Address of Sir Arthur Keith to the British Association, that Man has during a million years raised himself from the level of the dim kingdom of the lower animals. Guided and controlled, as we believe, by the hand of God, Evolution has brought Man from the depths to the heights.” Over against that utterance we place, for the sake of our young readers, what the Bible has to say, and with us it ought to be final, an end to all controversy on this question of the origin of man. This is what the Bible says:—”And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them” (Gen. i. 26, 27). And let it be remembered that this statement has the seal of our Lord Jesus Christ (see Matt. xix. 4; Mark x. 6). With the Apostle we say—”Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Roms. iii. 4). “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Heb. ii. 1).
Sabbath Desecration.
The boldness with which the Lord’s Day is now desecrated by those occupying responsible positions in this country is almost beyond belief. Recently the Schneider Cup Air Race was planned for a Sabbath. But that plan was upset by the weather being unsuitable. We are not in a position to say whether the British Authorities had any say in appointing a day for the race or not, but one thing is certain, they could easily have refused to take part in an event which even the most latitudinarian could not say was a necessity. One of the dailies had as a headline, “25,000 Italians Disappointed.” The pity is that there was such a crowd of Sabbath-breakers congregated for such a purpose. The public press also made known that recently during the visit of the Atlantic Fleet to Cromarty Firth, excursion trains were run from Keith and Elgin by the L.M.S. for the purpose of viewing the H.M.S. Emperor of India and H.M.S. Hood, which were open to the public on the 11th and 18th September. There were about 400 passengers on the Keith train; on the Elgin train there were 800—including 500 from Inverness. The Inverness District Bus Company also joined in the evil work, and carried fifty passengers to the sight-seeing of the warships. When the L.M.S. began their Sabbath excursions in the South we expressed the opinion that whenever the Company were likely to make anything out of it financially we would have these excursion Sabbath-day trains on the Highland section of the L.M.S. We have not had long to wait. This powerful company, and the motor bus companies, only laugh at protests. But if bus companies which would not run their buses on the Sabbath Day could be organised and receive the support of the public for passenger traffic and merchandise, it would hit these companies at a very sensitive spot—finance—the only place they feel, for as presently constituted they have no conscience.
The Bishop of Birmingham’s Notorious Sermon.
Dr Barnes, the Bishop of Birmingham, whose well-known modernistic views are public property, fairly out-did himself in a sermon he preached on 25th September in Westminster Abbey. The boys from Westminster School were present. We pity the boys that listened to that sermon. It was a cruel thing to preach such unsettling doctrine in the ears of young lads with their minds as yet undisturbed by the theories of biological science. Dr Barnes told his young audience that the stories of the creation of Adam and Eve, their primal innocence, and their fall had now become folk-lore in virtue of the acceptance of the Darwinian hypothesis. That hypothesis, he said, though he must know it is not proved, has stood the test of more than half-a-century of critical examination, and its triumph has destroyed the whole theological scheme. We thoroughly agree with the Bishop in his last sentence, and would go further by saying that the acceptance of Darwinianism destroys not only the whole theological scheme, but the whole fabric of Christianity. It is all very well for Dr Barnes to say, “Our Master is the light of the world,” but if He is so, where can Darwinianism place Him in its process of development, and what heed does Dr Barnes give to the words of the Master—”Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female?” Will the Bishop dare to say that this is folklore? We hear a great deal in these days when a bestial origin of man is proclaimed by some, that traces of the life lived in the jungle are to be found in his propensities. We do not believe anything of the kind, but when we read episcopal utterances like the above by a man who has signed the Thirty-Nine Articles, we feel that such conduct may more fully be described as the ethics of the jungle than Christian ethics. There were days in the Church of England when the man who gave utterance to such views as the unfortunate Public School boys listened to would never open his mouth in an English pulpit again, and it is to be hoped that this open attack on the faith will not be allowed to pass unchallenged.
Proposed Bill to Restrict Trading on the Lord’s Day.
There are at present, says the “Bulletin” (Glasgow) one million persons trading on the Sabbath in this country. The Federation of Grocers’ Associations are promoting a “Sunday” Trading Restriction Bill, which it is hoped will be introduced into Parliament next year.
We trust this will not be merely a milk-and-water piece of legislation, but legislation broad-based on God’s holy commandment.