Leading the Young in Wrong Ways.—A friend has sent us an extract from the Daily Mail, (London) which conveys the information that London’s Rover Scouts, the young men of the Boy Scout movement, are this year to introduce a striking departure from custom. “This year’s parade,” says the newspaper paragraph, “will be to commemorate all who have laid down their lives for a great and noble cause, including those who died in the Great War.” Captain C. Lisle Watson, Rover Commissioner for London and leader of the parade, said: “To carry the idea still further the authorities have granted London’s Rovers permission to begin and end their parade in the historic Westminster Hall, proceeding from there to the Cenotaph, in the footprints of Charles I. on his way to execution. London’s Rovers will thus have in Westminster Hall a present reminder of many whom they seek to commemorate—men who have given or offered their lives for their King, country, and conscience, among them Charles I; Blessed Thomas More, Lord Chancellor
of England; the Seven Bishops; Thomas Wentworth, who tried to die that his king might live; William Wallace; and more recently the heroes of the R. 101, who lay there in state.” There are many ways of leading the young astray but this is one of the most subtle. Under the guise of commemorating the great and good—King Charles I, Thomas More, and the Earl of Strafford are to be so honoured. We live in days when men who were anything but worthy to be commemorated are extolled by men whose ecclesiastical and religious sympathies only too clearly show in what boat they are sailing. These Memorial services against which our Church has protested are more and more introducing objectionable features into them and it becomes all our people to set their faces against acknowledging them. In so saying we are not unmindful of the men who nobly laid down their lives for us but the memory of their heroism could be shown in a better way than is being done by millions on the 11th of November.
The World Rebuking the Church.—At a meeting of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Retail Drapers, Outfitters’, Garment Makers’ and Milliners’ Association a protest was made against the commercialising of religious organizations by bazaars, and sales of work. The resolution asserts that the purchase and sales of goods at bazaars and sales of work introduces “a commercial money making and materialistic element into spiritual activities which is responsible for much of the lack of present interest in religious affairs.” Among the grounds on which the churches are urged to discontinue this method of raising funds is this that the practice tends to discourage Christian liberality “by establishing a principle of only giving a contribution to the Church when getting some equally costly goods in exchange.” We are glad that the Association has so plainly pointed out to the Churches their error and their worldliness.
Meat Traders and Sabbath Opening.—At a meeting of the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders’ Associations held in
Perth sometime ago reference was made to the question of Sabbath trading. It was described by one of the speakers as a menace which has been growing for years. In his own town (Aberdeen) the speaker said there were something like fifteen shops open on Sabbath and he thought it was a disgrace. A resolution was unanimously passed declaring the Federation’s deep concern at the marked increase of butchers’ shops open on Sabbath and that they would do all in their power to stop such trading. This is a movement in the right direction.
Sabbath Breaking under the Guise of Honouring the Fallen.—There was a considerable amount of Sabbath breaking throughout the land on Sabbath, 11th November, under the guise of honouring the memory of those who fell in the Great War. The account of the services held in some places on Armistice Day looks more like that the people were out to enjoy themselves. Here is a cutting from the Evening Dispatch (Edinburgh) in connection with the Duke of Kent’s visit:—“Festival of Remembrance in Usher Hall (Doors open 7.30 p.m.). The Festival in the Usher Hall will include a musical and historical review. The St. Giles’ Cathedral choir, under Dr. Greenhouse Allt, the Royal Marine Band of H.M.S. Renown, and the band and pipers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders will take part in the programme.” At Inverness a service was held at Cavell Gardens on Sabbath. Locheil delivered an address. Some ministers took part. Paraphrase 66 was sung led by the Inverness Silver Band; the Last Post and Reveille were sounded by buglers from the Cameron Depot. The Lament—“Flowers o’ the Forest” was played by Pipe-Major Ross. These are referred to not because they are worse than others but as specimens of what took place in some towns and cities on Sabbath 11th November. A considerable din was caused also by firing of guns and rockets and blowing of bugles.
A Noted Scientist’s Verdict on Evolution.—Sir Ambrose Fleming, M.A., D. Sc., F.R.S., recently delivered an address at
the Annual Conference of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churchmen in Hoddesdon. This address has been printed by the Protestant Truth Society, Cromley House, 31 Cannon Street, London, E.C.4 (Price 3d), and we have pleasure in recommending it to students and all interested in the subject with which it deals. It is a noteworthy utterance by this distinguished scientist. It is specially useful to be placed in the hands of those who have the strange idea that all the light of modern science is to be found in the brains of those who flout the doctrine of Creation and accept Evolution as the last word in the origin of this marvellous universe. The address is of a very high order and from the nature of its discussion more suited for the student than the ordinary reader. With the laws of the Conservation of Energy and the Dissipation of Energy, etc., as his working basis Sir Ambrose comes to the conclusion that Creation by an External Power is no longer an item of religious faith; it is a scientific necessity and fact (p. 9). The principle of Indeterminancy (Heisenberg) as shown in the position and speed of the electron has given the death blow to the doctrine of a rigid physical determinism. The order in nature is now no longer to be taken as necessary but is the outcome of the operations of Mind. Sir Ambrose’s argument is worked out with rare skill and will prove a hard nut to crack for those who place so much confidence in what science falsely so called has hitherto maintained. As to Darwinism, that will-o’-the-wisp of the modern mind, Sir Ambrose says: “At present we can say that although a number cling tenaciously to it as it enables them to dispense with any idea of special creation and although it has still a wide spread popular vogue yet many experts of high rank consider it to be invalid and no longer adhere to it” (p. 6). Sir Ambrose concludes his address with the words: “Experience shows that the only message which is effectual is the old yet ever new gospel of the grace of God. ‘That God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.'”