The Kind of Reading provided for the Troops by Certain Agencies.
The Press and Publications Board of the Church Assembly, Church of England, has issued a booklet by Rev. Alan Richardson, B.D. It is an undiluted higher critical production. The book of Jonah is by an unknown writer, a wonderful allegory but whose meaning is lost if it is treated as a true story. “When we say that the Bible is God’s message to the world” says this dangerous guide “we do not mean that the actual words of the Bible (either in our English version or in the Hebrew and Greek originals) were actually dictated verbatim, as it were, by God. The writers of the different books of the Bible were men even as we are—and just as capable as we are of making mistakes.” What a pity that such German poison should be instilled into the minds of our Fighting Forces.
The Restraining Hand.
Perhaps no public statement made in recent times by those in the high places of the nation brings so vividly before the mind how near we were to catastrophic disaster at the Fall of France as a recent utterance of Mr. Churchill. Here it is:—”I have often asked myself, what would have happened if he [Hitler] had, in fact put three-quarters of a million men on board all the barges and boats and let them stream across and taken the chance of losing three quarters of them. There would have been a terrible shambles in this country, because we had hardly a weapon. We had not at that time 50 tanks, whereas we now have 10,000 or 12,000. We had a couple of hundred field guns, some of them brought out of the museum. We had lost all our equipment at Dunkirk and in France, and indeed we were spared an agonising trial. Of course we would have gone on fighting, but modern weapons give a terrible advantage as against people almost entirely without them.” What unseen Hand held back our bitter and triumphant enemies? Need we wait for an answer. Will our nation and rulers not lay to heart that the God who delivered us then is more of might by far than the 10,000 to 12,000 tanks which we now have? The world witnessed a miracle at Dunkirk.
More Liberty for Roman Catholics asked for.
Lord Hemingford formerly Sir Dennis Herbert, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, recently moved in the House of Lords a motion asking the Government to remove all remaining civil disabilities on religious grounds on British subjects not members of the Church of England. It should be possible, he said for a Roman Catholic or a Jew to become Lord Chancellor. Viscount Simon (Lord Chancellor), replying, said that the motion was entirely inopportune. There could not be a less desirable time to rouse such a controversy. There was no reason why a Jew should not be appointed Lord Chancellor. Discrimination against Roman Catholics would not be approved to-day; it belonged to the bad old days. The position was a complicated legal one, and this could not be proceeded with during the war. Lord Hemingford withdrew his motion. Viscount Simon’s “bad old days” were the days when Protestants were what they professed to be. Even Lord Chancellors would be none the worse of an intensive course in the Protestant struggle in England though it was not as thorough as one could wish. The next move will be to open the way for a Roman Catholic King to occupy the British throne. The ceaseless persistency of Romanism is disconcerting.
According to Plan.
The success of the Allied Armies in Tunisia has given a smashing blow to the German and Italian armies. It was according to plan but not Hitler’s or that of the Nazis or the Fascists. It was right that there should be a national recognition of the Lord’s goodness but it was neither right nor seemly that there should be such a display on the Lord’s Day as was witnessed in many places on the 16th of May.
Held Over.
A number of articles, obituaries, etc., have had to be held over owing to pressure on our space.