“His Deadly Wound was Healed.”
The Heaven-provoking idolatry and blatant Sabbath desecration enacted at Fort Augustus Abbey on Sabbath, the 30th May, 1954, as reported in the Northern Chronicle for 2nd June, 1954, are, among other signs of the times, a clear indication that “the deadly wound” inflicted on Popery by the blessed Reformation is now being healed to consummate fulfilment, as predicted in Rev. xiii, 3 and 12. The report states that two thousand pilgrims were present from Aberdeen and the North-East, as well as from the West Coast, including Lochaber, Kintail, Morar, Glenfinnan, etc., to honour Our Lady of Aberdeen, all under the auspices of the Roman Catholic diocese of Aberdeen. The report also states that “This is the first time since the Reformation that Mass was celebrated in the open air at Fort Augustus.” One cannot help recalling the solemn words of John Knox, the great Scottish Reformer, and Scotland’s greatest human benefactor, when he declared that he would far rather hear of the approaching invasion of a foreign army than that one blasphemous Mass should be offered upon Scottish soil. It required 40 buses to transport the pilgrims to Fort Augustus, and many people came in private cars, or bicycles, and on foot. This is characteristic of the vainglorious showmanship and pageantry of Popery, in the teeth of such Scriptural truths as “The kingdom of Heaven cometh not with observation” and “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street” (Isaiah xlii. 2). Local catering establishments made special arrangements to feed the pilgrims. Following the procession with rosary and hymns, the sermon was preached by the Rev. Anthony Ross, S.T.L., O.P., Prior of Woodchester. In the course of his sermon Rev. Anthony Ross said: “We have come our various ways to Fort Augustus to-day in comfort and with no danger to ourselves, now living in peace and worshipping God as our forefathers did before us. All this,” he said, “is due to our faith in Our Lady of Aberdeen—a faith so strong that neither suffering nor death itself can break it, but it requires constant prayer.” Let readers note that every so-called blessing is attributed, not to Christ, the only Saviour of sinners and of the world, but to Our Lady of Aberdeen. A peculiarly sad aspect of this blasphemous pronouncement is that it is the utterance of a one-time nominal Free Presbyterian, the so-called Very Rev. Anthony Ross, who succumbed to subtle propaganda.—J. P. MacQueen.
Royal Gift for Roman Catholic Cathedral.
It is reported in the London paper The Evening Standard of 16th June, 1954, that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have both made personal donations towards the restoration of the bombed Roman Catholic cathedral at Southwark. It has been stated that the amount cannot be revealed. An appeal is being made for £110,000 towards the cost. We sadly deplore any such donations for the support and rebuilding of Rome’s Mass houses, where the blasphemy of the Mass is practised. And to think that it would probably be a mortal sin for a Roman Catholic to give a donation for the building or rebuilding of any Protestant place of worship! Truly Christian Churches require buildings to worship in, but it is appalling the large sums of money, even by present financial standards, which are devoted to ornate and elaborate buildings for the professed worship of God. The days of Solomon’s temple are past. The simplicity of the Gospel of Christ and the New Testament order of worship requires but simple, convenient and comfortable accommodation. Nothing more is required for that worship which is Scriptural and “in spirit and in truth.”