Sir Winston Churchill’s Observations on Award of Nobel Prize.
Sometime ago the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Sir Winston Churchill. His duties did not permit him to go to Stockholm to receive the award; but Lady Churchill went on his behalf. In Sir Winston’s letter to the Nobel Prize authorities, the following extract is of interest as coming from his pen: “At the present state of the world, we have entered an age of storm and tragedy. The power of man has grown in every sphere except over himself. The fearful question confronts us—Have our problems got beyond our control? Undoubtedly we are passing through a phase where this may be so. Well may we humble ourselves and seek for guidance and mercy.” Truly these are words of wisdom from a great man. Although Sir Winston does not say before whom we are to humble ourselves or from whom we are to seek guidance and mercy; yet there is in his statements a commendable attitude to the circumstances of today. Truly we ought to humble ourselves as a backsliding nation before the God of heaven, and as a people seek guidance and mercy for ourselves and other nations through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Organised Opposition to Bishops-in-Presbytery Proposal.
At the end of June it was stated that two ministers of the Church of Scotland are to start a campaign in the Autumn in opposition to the “Bishop in Presbytery” proposal and other issues involved. The two ministers are Rev. Leslie P. Hope, Renfield Street Church, Glasgow, and the Rev. A. G. Hasson, Bonhill, Dunbartonshire. They suggest organising the campaign to “enable people who may be confused by the arguments and counter-arguments already rife to see more clearly what is at stake, and what is the rock of principle on which the Kirk of Scotland was built.” Rev. Dr. Leslie Hope said that various meetings, press conferences, lectures and publications envisaged would, they hoped, prove both of public interest and in the public interest. Rev. Dr. Hope referred to the dubious mythology of “Apostolic Succession,” and said that this furore about Episcopal Orders should have emerged at this moment would seem to be a providential curtain-raiser for the quarter centenary of the Reformation, which was due for celebration in 1960. From the Free Presbyterian standpoint we are in conscience bound to be opposed to much in the doctrine and practice of the present Church of Scotland; but we are in full sympathy with Rev. Dr. Leslie Hope and Rev. A. G. Hasson as to their proposed campaign to enlighten the people of Scotland on the evils and dangers of Episcopacy, and we wish them all success in the Lord.
Further Condemnation of Bishops’ Plan by Church of Scotland Church Association.
We are glad to be able to insert here a further indication of opposition to Episcopacy from within the Church of Scotland. In the Glasgow paper, the Evening Citizen, of date 5th July, the following statement appears:—
The National Church Association today condemns the plan for bishops in the Church of Scotland as “an immensely retrograde step.”
“While most desirous of furthering the cause of Church unity, we cannot accept bishops claiming authority over the Church by virtue of apostolic succession,” says the association’s chairman, the Rev. J. Reid Christie.
Mr. Christie, minister of Broom Parish Church, Newton Mearns, continues: “This doctrine, together with other Anglo-Catholic doctrines and practices which flow from it, are already causing grave disunity among members of the Church of England.
“To accept it would be to invite disruption in the Church of Scotland.”
The association says the report on inter-church relations is “a serious threat to Presbyterianism.”
Their interim statement says: “While the Church of Scotland recognises the Church of England and the validity of her ministerial orders and sacraments—although emphatically rejecting Anglo-Catholic doctrine and practices in worship which are tolerated in that Church—it is to be noted that, so far, the Church of Scotland has not received from the Church of England any similar recognition.
“The inference is plain—that we are being approached to consent to being created a Church by taking Episcopacy into our system. We cannot possibly consent to this implication.”
These different groups which seem to be arising within the Church of Scotland, should combine their activities and work together, because they are faced with strong and influential support for a measure of Episcopacy to be adopted by their Church.
A Regrettable Statement in a Covenenting Magazine.
In last month’s issue we referred to unsatisfactory statements by the President of the Reformation Society of Scotland in the debate on “Bishops in Presbytery” at the Church of Scotland General Assembly. Now we are confronted with a most unsatisfactory statement on this subject, made by Rev. R. B. Lyons, B.A., Limarady, Co. Derry, who is joint Editor of The Covenanter, the monthly magazine of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. In the June issue of his magazine, Rev. R. B. Lyons in his Monthly Letter refers to the Report on inter-Church Relations which was debated at the Church of Scotland Assembly in May. Among other statements, he writes: . . . It has to be granted that Presbyterianism as a system creaks dolefully sometimes; or there are times when a wise and kindly control could avert a bottleneck or resolve a distress. It is granted too that John Knox used a system of Superintendents, perhaps in backward times . . .” Statements like these coming from the pen of a minister whose Church professes to be founded on Covenenting principles, seems strange indeed, and certainly disappointing. We would expect in the Magazine called The Covenanter, a forthright, clear and faithful denunciation of Episcopacy, and arguments in support of the Presbyterian form of Church government as based on the Scripture. Instead, we read critical reference to the Presbyterian form, and hints as to the possible advantage of having bishops. Was not the battle in Scotland, by the Covenanters, on behalf of Christ’s crown and Covenant, and against Episcopacy? We wonder if the joint Editor of the The Covenanter thought seriously before penning his words which we have quoted.
Story of a Roman Catholic Priest by Moderator of General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Rev. Dr. George F. MacLeod, the present Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, advised an audience of ministers and deaconesses on June 11 to read a book that has a Roman Catholic priest as its hero. He gave an outline of the story, interposing his own approving comments. The priest went to North Africa not to preach but to drop seeds of his faith. He was murdered in 1917, and died without a single person joining him. Dr. MacLeod related with apparent satisfaction that this priest’s example resulted in the formation of the Order of Sisters of Jesus and the Brothers of Jesus in France. He also stated as his opinion that this priest’s life of service ” . . . is the most powerful evangelism, more powerful than the spoken word.” Yet the Holy Spirit through Paul declares that “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Paul enjoined upon Timothy, “Preach the Word,” and Christ commanded the Apostles thus: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” But the Moderator of a professed Protestant and Presbyterian Church lauds the “no preaching of the Word” activities of a Roman Catholic priest. Rev. Dr. George MacLeod is revealing himself to be, what we for years thought he was, a man out to lead the people of Scotland back to Anglicanism and Rome. His Iona organisation is but the centre for his propaganda. He would welcome much more than “Bishops-in-Presbytery” in the Church of Scotland, in the acceptance of Episcopal forms. What a day has come upon the Scotland of Reformers and Covenanters!
Convert from Rome Warns against Popery.
There appeared in The English Churchman of date 12th July, 1957, a letter from C. Carroll, Chester. He writes: “It is only since I began reading the Word of God, began thinking for myself, as Luther and others did, questioning the ‘almighty powers of Pope and priest,’ began reading history, that I found I was entirely in the wrong field. I have seen the evils of Popery in Eire. I know the instructions the priests, who hate the British, give youths leaving impoverished Eire for Britain to work, orders that are not at all in our interests . . . I speak as a convert from the Church of Rome, one of many in recent years who have at long last seen the Light of Truth.” Readers will agree that this letter which speaks for itself, is highly interesting.