Religious Intolerance in Spain.
The following has been received by us from Mr. A. T. Tasker, “Foreign Aid Committee,” Danbury, Chelmsford:—
Our Foreign Correspondent, Dr. R. H. Borkent, of The Hague, has recently received the following letter from Spain. Comment is unnecessary.
“I have received your letter of condolence on the death of my beloved father, and I am very grateful for your sympathy. I am very glad and satisfied, and very thankful for all the help you send to me in the work of the Lord. It is indeed a great joy to receive a letter or a parcel from you, and you cannot imagine the gladness when they arrive. May God bless you. Amen.
“My brethren, I must with sorrow, give you bad news about myself and Spain, the Roman, heartless Spain; and about the illegalities and the social inquisition that the Lord’s people have to bear. You must know, brethren, that after my father’s death, it was known at the Company where he was insured that he had been a Protestant. They sent us a letter with the news that the widow (my mother) would receive nothing as her husband had been an ‘Evangelical Protestant.’ Something like it occurred to me, for I was working in the same place. As they learned that I was of the same Faith, they dismissed me as a Protestant Communist! So you see, my brethren, how they hate us. We got into very low circumstances, but I have another situation although the wages are very small, and I work an extra five hours by night. But I do not lose heart, though we have had much misery and oppression. On the contrary, I have devoted myself more and more to the Lord. To be a witness of Him, and to preach the Gospel wherever there is opportunity. They may do with me as they like.
“Blessed be our Saviour who died for us. I’ll not fear for what men can do to me; our Saviour suffered more. Praise to the Lord! How great it is to suffer for Him, who loved us and gave His life on the cross! Dear brethren, I will not go on telling you of our troubles, but you must know that the Church in Spain is suffering great oppression by the Roman Government and the expensiveness of life. May the Triune God bless us, and give us power of discrimination, and may He increase our faith and love to work continually.
“My very dear brethren, I thank you heartily for all the love that you render us. Would that I was with you, shake hands with you, aye, and live with you. However, God knows best. Unto Him be glory and blessing in His congregation for ever and ever. Amen. Now I take leave of you, praying to the Lord for you. May the Holy Spirit be with you till the end, and may Jesus Christ be your Lord, your Shepherd, your Redeemer and Saviour. Amen.”
(Translated from the Spanish.)
Anti-Partitionists’ Policy in Britain.
We learned recently that there exists in this country an Anti-Partition of Ireland League, which held an annual conference in Manchester during last May. As a result of this conference, those in Britain who wish to see Ulster included within the Republic of Southern Ireland and thus separated from the United Kingdom and its Protestant Constitution, are to refrain from direct attacks on any of the three main British political parties. A resolution calling for “More recruitment and propaganda, instead of attacking British political parties,” was passed. Delegates expressed the view that no help could be expected from any of the three main political parties, Labour, Conservative or Liberal. Truly we as a nation possess, with all our faults, signs that there is still a great measure of freedom for all kinds of organisations within our realm—freedom, the fruit of Christianity and Protestantism. Nevertheless the above League is, in our opinion, an evil instrument of Rome and the Papacy, working for the elimination of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and the overthrow of Protestantism there. What a bold and dangerous League this is! It has publicly announced its intention of using propaganda, etc., in Britain to further the Romish designs of a foreign and Roman Catholic Republic, viz., the Republic of Southern Ireland. As we write, there are headlines in the papers, “Traitors at Work,” in reference to sabotage among ammunition barges at Portsmouth, considered to be the work of Communists. But those who are engaged in the activities of the Anti-Partition of Ireland League, in the British Isles, are also traitors at work against the cause of Bible Christianity and true Protestantism. Their activities are political as well, inasmuch as they seek to bring to an end the legal and political bonds between Ulster and the rest of the United Kingdom. A further observation with wider implications may be pertinent here. While efforts are being made to join Ulster to the Republic of Southern Ireland, activities proceed apace to separate Scotland from England. Free Presbyterians and others would do well to watch these movements with care and suspicion. The Roman Catholic Church will work for unity on the one hand and division on the other, as these respective policies may be expected to work to the advantage of the Pope.
Scottish Sabbath Calm Shattered.
On Sabbath, the 23rd July, there was held, near New Deer, Aberdeenshire, what is called the annual Aikey Brae Fair. One paper described the scene thus: “The usual Sunday calm of the Aberdeenshire countryside was shattered . . . by the brassy blare of musical merry-go-rounds and the shouting of cheapjacks . . . There was a wide variety of amusements and side-shows for the revellers . . . Thousands of trippers made their way to take part in Scotland’s only organised ‘Continental’ Sunday. Farmers did good business by turning their fields into car parks.” What a shame and disgrace to New Deer district! What guilt comes upon Aberdeenshire when such is permitted and countenanced! What a pitiful and sure sign that Scotland has almost abandoned the Scottish Sabbath! But most solemn and serious of all—What has God, the divine law-giver to say regarding all this? “Sin is the transgression of the law,” and of the Fourth Commandment in this case. And further, “The wages of sin is death.” If not repented of, the shattering of the Sabbath “calm” at New Deer, will shatter the false peace and happiness of thousands of poor sinners, when life’s journey will end in weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in Eternity.
The Pope and Apostle Peter’s Supposed Tomb.
On Monday, the 5th June last, the Pope opened at Rome the crypts 50 feet below St. Peter’s Church Basilica floor, where Catholic observers believe ten years of excavation have brought to light the tomb of the Apostle Peter. What a brazen-faced deception is about to be perpetrated in the name of the Apostle! What a miserable contribution to meet the needs of a sin-ruined world! When Christ Jesus, through the Gospel and in the power of the Holy Spirit, will go forth conquering and to conquer, throughout the world, then all lying wonders will be swept away. Vatican excavators are said to have found the bones of the Apostle in a lead and stone casket that escaped the Vandals of the Ninth century. Probably the Pope will announce officially this spurious and unholy business as a great discovery before the close of the present so-called “holy” year. If Roman Catholics or others believe all this in our so-called enlightened age, then assuredly the Word of God will once more be fulfilled—”And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. ii, 11, 12).