Communions.
January—Fourth Sabbath—Inverness. February—First Sabbath—Dingwall. South African Mission—The following are the dates of the Communions:—Last Sabbath of March, June, September, and December. Note.—Notice of any additions to or alteration of the above dates of Communions should be sent to the Editor.
Collection for December.
The Collection for this month is for the General Church Building Fund. Congregational Treasurers whose buildings are not clear of debt, and who wish to participate in the allocation from the General Building Fund, are requested to state amount of their debt to Mr Grant at their earliest convenience.
Illness of Rev. Ewen Macqueen.
As most of our Church people know, the Rev. Ewen Macqueen, who was suffering from a particularly severe attack of neuritis, was ordered by his doctor to have three months’ rest and to go abroad for some time to a warmer climate. Mr Macqueen sailed for Madeira on the 1st November from Tilbury Docks, London. The Deacons’ Court of the Inverness Free Presbyterian congregation generously presented him with the handsome sum of £100 to help to cover the heavy travelling expenses, etc. We trust he may soon be restored to his wonted health.
Edinburgh Free Presbyterian Church.
The Deacons’ Court of the Free Presbyterian Congregation of Edinburgh have pleasure in intimating that the debt on the church at Gilmore Place is now paid. They would take this opportunity, in name of the congregation, to thank most sincerely all the kind friends at home and abroad who so liberally came to their help to accomplish this desirable end. We have much reason to acknowledge the marvellous kindness of the Lord in enabling the congregation, which is neither large nor rich, with the help of generous friends, to wipe off a debt of £3000 in six years.—N. Macintyre.
Note on Synod’s Statement on Church-going by Public Conveyances on the Sabbath.
I have noted that much capital has been made of late by such as oppose the finding of the last Synod of the Free Presbyterian Church on Sabbath observance, of the direction given by the Holy Ghost in I. Cor., x. 27-31, as regards the eating of meats offered to idols, as giving full permission to do so; and the conclusion is come to, reasoning from analogy, that going to church on the Lord’s Day by street cars, buses, and trains run for monetary purposes should not be condemned, and that they come under the same category. The Synod in their statement argues this point, and to my apprehension its conclusion is irrefutable. For in our Lord’s letter to the Church of Pergamos we read: “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols” (Rev. ii. 14). Again, in the letter to the Church of Thyatira we read: “I have a few things to say against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols” (Rev. ii. 20). This was our Lord’s decision concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols then, and is certainly now, and is also His infallible comment on the statement in I. Corinthians as above. Let all the readers of the Free Presbyterian Magazine take good heed that no prophet or prophetess seduce them by such anti-scriptural reasoning. Concerning the argument based on the Barrier Act. Surely no sane or unbiased mind will deny that the Church of Christ has power to use discipline and to suspend members who are guilty of transgressing the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, etc., commandments, and why not the fourth? This argument would mean that no case of discipline could be settled till it should first be put before all the courts of the Church under the Barrier Act, and that the laws passed already for guiding the Church concerning discipline should be cast overboard. How absurd! Such reasoning must be the result of ignorance or of real craftiness. If this argument be applied to civil or criminal actions, it would mean that no crime could be dealt with until an Act of Parliament should be passed authorising the process and sentence, ignoring absolutely all laws which are already on our Statute Book. Surely this is Bolshevism of the real red type.—N. C.