During this month the British Parliament is due to make a fateful decision either for or against entry into the European Common Market. The decision, particularly if it is for entry into the Common Market, will be a momentous one. From then on Britain’s interests will be inextricably bound up with the interests of those nations of Europe which form the European Economic Community. It would appear as though the issue is already decided, as it is confidently expected that a majority of Members of Parliament will support entry when the vote is taken at the end of the Common Market debate.
On the face of it, an alliance of nations to promote economic gain and stability seems most desirable. Some might be ready to say—Surely when nations are drawing together in this way, the Millennium—that longed for and looked for period when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, and when they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks—cannot be far away. Why then are we so fearful about a decision which seems so full of hope and promise? We will try to answer that question.
Britain’s history from the period of the Reformation has been that of a Protestant nation; a nation in which the principles of truth and righteousness have increasingly held sway; a nation intolerant of the deceitful, debasing and persecuting principles of Romanism; a nation jealous of its prized possessions of liberty and justice; a nation peculiarly blessed of God for the furtherance of His Cause and Kingdom in the world; a nation possessing often as its leaders in Church and State men of high principles and worth who would not bow to expediency when vital principles were at stake; a nation containing many who had the true fear of God in their hearts and for whose sake the Lord greatly blessed and enriched the land.
Is not such a land, then, eminently fitted to lead Europe into an era of unparalleled prosperity? That might have been so if Britain’s Protestantism was as virile as it was in former generations. However, that Protestantism has been eroded by the progressive abandonment of the true Gospel of God’s grace in the Churches of the land, which has resulted in recent times in such an unprecedented decline in moral standards that God can now address us as “ye rulers of Sodom” and “ye people of Gomorrah”. Is this the nation—a nation at the nadir of religious and moral decline—which is to be a partner in the rejuvenation of Europe? Is our quest in applying for entry into the Common Market not rather a last ditch attempt to save ourselves from the consequences which our own sins have brought upon us? Will Europe save us? Let the history of Israel be sufficient warning to us—“Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help”.
The history of Britain over many centuries has been one in which one nation after another in Europe has sought to overthrow our land, the present century witnessing two such attempts. From these attempts the Lord preserved us. Once and again, as is writ large on the page of history, the Lord intervened on our behalf, sometimes miraculously when everything appeared to favour our destruction. What more could I have done for you that I have not done for you, the Lord might well say concerning our nation. If these things, then, are indubitably so—and what man in his sane senses would dispute them—can we not even at this juncture in our history look to the Lord for the help we so much need and ask Him to appear for us? And if He will not appear for us, of what use is it looking to Europe for help?
The history of Romanism shows only too clearly that one of its principle aims in the further extension of the Pope’s kingdom is the overthrow of Protestant Britain. To this end no effort has been spared. Informed Protestants are well aware of its infiltration of the Foreign Office and other departments of government with men loyal to the papacy, its infiltration in the same way of the Royal household and Court circles, its control of the mass media in this country, its increased activity in the ecumenical field, and its exploitation of the apathetic attitude of so many nominal Protestants towards the Church of Rome. Will Britain’s entry into the Common Market be likely to hinder or accelerate the Roman Catholic Church’s expressed intention to win Britain over to the Roman fold? The answer is obvious, and the special interest the Church of Rome has in the Common Market consequently apparent.
In conclusion we may ask the question—In whose hands is the destiny of Britain? Is it indeed in the hands of our rulers, or for that matter in the hands of a parliamentary majority? In view of the Lord’s sovereign dealings with us as a land, we must answer with an emphatic—No! Our destiny is in the Lord’s hand. It is a little thing with the Lord, in whose hand are the hearts of all men, to secure a parliamentary majority against entry into the Common Market, should that be His will. It may please Him, however, to intervene in a more palpable way, as it has pleased Him to do in the past, so that the most sceptical will have to acknowledge that the Lord has done this. “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion . . . then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.” Our rulers are concerned with how we may get out of the present impasse by our own endeavours, but the Bible makes clear that the way to true prosperity is in a nation’s return to God. “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” The Spirit being poured out from on High is the answer to all our needs. This is the answer we so desperately need. It is by pleading for it that we will procure this blessing—”I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” Let us plead for it now, and more earnestly than we have done before, asking the Lord that He would give us, as a token of spiritual blessings to come, temporal deliverance at this time even by a miraculous deliverance if that is His will, for His own Name’s sake.