BY the time this issue of the Magazine is in the hands of many of our readers a new year will have begun. What God has in store for us in the coming year is hid in the counsels of the Eternal—it may be sorrow, it may be joy, it may be restoration to health, it may be wearisome days of affliction and it may be death. Whatever may be our appointed lot it would be well if, through grace, we could say: “Good is the will of the Lord.” During the year that has passed some of the readers that were with us at the beginning of 1937 are now gone—some of these had travelled far on the journey of life and others were only taking their first steps on the long journey in connection with which they and those who fondly loved them were looking forward to their career in the world. But they too are gone, their places are empty and will be no more filled. Age and youth are passing on and preaching to us to be ready. To those of our readers who have passed through sorrow or from whose homes dear ones have been removed we tender our heartfelt sympathy.
The year that has passed has been full of wars and rumours of wars. The situation in Palestine is anything but encouraging and acts of lawlessness and murder are fitted to cause disquietude. The civil war in Spain is still raging. And a fierce war is being waged between the Japs and the Chinese. Though there has been no formal declaration of war that does not alter the fact that thousands of human beings are being suddenly hurled into eternity while thousands more are having their homes wrecked and their bodies mangled. The League of Nations which was to establish an Eden on earth, according to the prophecies of its promoters, and ardent supporters, is looking the very picture of Impotence personified. The League of Nations had no need of God and God has left it to its own devices and to-day few wise men look to it for any help. The year has also been full of distractions. War was in the air and if the nations of Europe have in the over-ruling Providence of God seen another year without the earth being deluged with blood that is due not to their masterly diplomacy but to the goodness of the God of nations. Our own country is feverishly engaged in forging implements of war and the laboratories of the scientists are using the resources of science for offensive and defensive precautionary measures. It is a sad commentary on our boasted civilisation. We have no desire to draw a gloomy picture or to fill the minds of our readers with dark forebodings but there is no use of shutting our eyes to the serious situation confronting the nations.
Fortunately the dark shadows of unemployment that hung long over so many homes and which caused such anxiety to our statesmen has so far passed away though there is still about 1½ millions unemployed. The change for the better is something to be thankful for. How trying the unemployment period was is evidenced by the effect produced by any rumour of a “slump” in employment.
The previous year will go down to history as the year in which three British Kings reigned—George V., Edward VIII., and George VI. In the over-ruling providence of God the nation and throne were carried through a crisis that might have shaken the British throne to its very foundations. We cannot be too thankful to God for His kindness that we were carried through this unprecedented crisis and surely it was an occasion for national thanksgiving.
The religious situation in the nation in general and in Scotland in particular is not fitted to cheer and hearten us. The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a Re-call to Religion and the Church of Scotland is arranging for a national campaign. Meetings are already being held throughout the country. We are not hopeful of good results judging the source from which the Re-call has come. The Archbishop’s strong Anglo-Catholic sympathies are well-known and when he issues this re-call to religion what kind of religion does he mean? Is it a religion that will bring us back as a people to the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ and taught by His inspired Apostles or is it a religion that will bring the Church of England and the Non-Conformist Churches further on the way towards Rome? These are pertinent questions in view of the place that is being given to the Archbishop’s appeal.
In Scotland, as already stated, arrangements are being made for a nation-wide campaign and the usual machinery is being employed to work up a revival. The results of the last efforts in this direction are too recent to be relegated to forgetfulness. The barrenness of the Rededication and Forward movements would tempt one risking to prophesy. But we forbear; time will soon tell.
While the situation internationally and ecclesiastically is not what one would wish it to be yet we must never forget that there are great promises for Christ’s Church that have not yet been fulfilled. God has His own appointed time when He shall arise and have mercy upon His Sion and in that day the harps that were hanging on the willows by Babel’s streams will be taken down and sadness will give place to joy as the pilgrims sing:
Thou shalt arise, and mercy have upon thy Sion yet;
The time to favour her is come, the time that thou has set.
For in her rubbish and her stones thy servants pleasure take;
Yea, they the very dust thereof do favour for her sake.
So shall the heathen people fear the Lord’s most holy name;
And all the kings on earth shall dread thy glory and thy fame.
When Sion by the mighty Lord built up again shall be,
In glory then and majesty to men appear shall He.—
Metrical Psalms, cii. 13-16.