The Royal Wedding
There was much about the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on April 29 which encouraged loyal Protestants. On the negative side, the pomp and ceremony associated with it was far removed from the simplicity of New Testament worship, though more restrained than on some other similar occasions. The extent to which the various participants entered with conviction into the biblical affirmations made may be uncertain. The guest list gave recognition to the representatives of various religions and interests. The bride was not required to promise to be subject to her husband.
On the positive side, there was no bowing before “the altar”, and the language of the service seemed decidedly Low rather than High Anglican. The Word was read, though in an inclusive modern version. Honour was ascribed to each of the three Persons of the Godhead. The language used in the prescribed prayers was reverent. The biblical view of marriage was affirmed. No one from outwith the professedly and confessionally Protestant Church of England took part in the service. It may be a sign of the times that we feel that such things give us such cause for thankfulness but, given the spiritual and moral climate of our day, thankful we should be. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority” (1 Tim 2:1).
Through the media, millions throughout the nation and the world were confronted with the biblical definition of, and teaching regarding, the divine institution of marriage, the purposes for which it was instituted, the persons who may enter upon it and the fact that it is not to be entered upon “unadvisedly, lightly or wantonly,” but “reverently, discreetly, soberly and in the fear of God, duly considering the causes for which matrimony was ordained”. The young couple were charged to confess any known impediment to their marriage, as they would “answer on the dreadful day of judgement, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed”. They were exhorted to “be well assured that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God’s Word doth allow are not joined together by God, neither is their matrimony lawful”. They were counselled “to live together according to God’s law”, forsaking all others, and to love and cherish each other as long as they both should live. What a blessing it would be if the Church and state which came together to celebrate this event would uphold and implement these biblical views of the uniqueness and status of marriage between one man and one woman.
Whoever was ultimately responsible for the fact, it was heartening that there was no participation in the marriage ceremony of representatives of Roman Catholicism or any other religion. It was disappointing that, in Her Majesty’s diplomatically-produced welcome to Pope Benedict, delight was expressed at his visit, which was regarded as providing “an opportunity to deepen the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the established Church of England and the Church of Scotland”. The Queen expressed gratitude for her warm reception by the Vatican on three occasions. It is to be hoped that the restriction of participation in the religious aspects of the royal marriage to members of the established Church may be indicative of a realisation by Church and state of the implications of moving from the Protestant Constitution of both.
It is also to be hoped that there is truth in the publicly-aided suggestion that the Church of England is resisting, so far successfully, moves currently led by the Deputy Prime Minister, to repeal the 310-year-old requirement that monarch and spouse may not be Roman Catholic. The historical and religious and constitutional reasons for this prohibition have been frequently spelled out in this Magazine. Apart from anything else it would be outrageous for the monarch of this sovereign state to be subject to the sovereign leader of the Vatican State, who claims spiritual and temporal authority over all the nations of the world.
We pray that Prince William and Her Royal Highness may yet, by God’s grace, come to appreciate in their own experience and marriage the reality of Christ and of His mystical union with His Church, to which reference was made in their marriage service. In their marriage and their public life may they yet, by God’s grace, be examples of godliness to the nation. HMC
Cuckoos
A recent BBC radio programme reported on research by Cambridge scientists on cuckoos at nearby Wicken Fen. The cuckoos there lay their eggs in the nests of reed warblers. The female cuckoos hide in the trees and, once the reed warblers have laid their eggs, they swoop down and replace a reed warbler egg with a cuckoo one. The whole raid takes about ten seconds. The cuckoo is much larger than the reed warbler but the cuckoo egg is only a fraction larger than the reed warbler egg, which it closely resembles. The researchers experimented with eggs of different sizes and colours to see which the reed warblers were prepared to accept. Other British cuckoos exploit different species, such as meadow pipits and dunnocks, and lay eggs of different colours.
Once the egg has hatched, the cuckoo chick turns all the reed warbler eggs or chicks out of the nest and prevails on the reed warbler parents to feed it. Its call sounds like a nest full of young reed warblers, and this stimulates the parents to keep fetching food for the greedy intruder which has killed their offspring. Soon the chick is far larger than they are and they have to stand on its back to reach its mouth. Eventually it outgrows the nest and moves to a nearby perch but still the parents act as its slaves. The adult cuckoos migrate back to southern Africa in July, but the fledglings remain until August or September. At this point, never having seen another cuckoo in their lives, they too fly to southern Africa, identify themselves as cuckoos, find a mate, and return to Wicken Fen the next spring.
The whole account is so astonishing (and there are many other remarkable details, such as the cuckoo chicks recognising the alarm call of the reed warbler) that one feels that it instantly disproves evolution. How could such amazing complexity develop by chance? But somehow the scientists refuse to see this, and throughout their work they dutifully and frequently pay tribute to the “marvels of evolution”. Their folly in this respect is matched only by that of the reed warbler parents. No matter how absurd the situation becomes, both parties resolutely refuse to admit that they have been deceived.
The behaviour of the cuckoo is clearly a consequence of the curse on the earth pronounced in Genesis 3:17-18. It shows us the murderous and deceitful ingratitude of sin, and the same cuckoo spirit is, by nature, in every one of us in our desire to have everything without cost in this world, and in the opposition in our hearts towards the Lord and His Anointed. Men expect God to feed them while they hate and oppose everything that is His.
The cuckoo also illustrates a common phenomenon in denominations of the Christian Church: office-bearers who reject the constitution of their chosen denomination enter in, having roughly the right size and speckles on them to pass for faithful men. With the worldly adherents on their side, they increase rapidly and, as they do so, they cast out the true children of the Church who stand in their way. There are others in the Church who are loyal to its principles but who are foolish and do not discern the danger in their midst. They feed the cuckoo and obstruct any attempts to cast it out by way of discipline, until eventually the cuckoo becomes so big that the situation is beyond remedy.
Both the Free Church and the Church of Scotland are in this position, in the present writer’s estimation. But while a situation may be beyond the remedy of man, it is not beyond the remedy of Christ, and He may, when He pleases, eject the cuckoo and restore the rightful offspring to the nest. “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house an house of merchandise” (Jn 2:13-16). DWBS
The Islamisation of the UK
The growth of Islam in the UK is a concern to numerous Christians. Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, and International Director of the Barnabas Fund, writes in the latest issue of Barnabas Aid: “Many Muslims in Britain are trying to create an alternative society within the British nation. They want to live under Islamic sharia law instead of British law, and to isolate themselves as far as possible from non-Muslims in self-contained communities.”
However, he goes on to warn us, “Some Muslims, known as Islamists, want to go a big step further, by turning the whole of Britain into an Islamic society and forcing non-Muslims to submit to sharia”. As a former Muslim who converted to Christianity, Dr Sookhdeo has a profound and balanced understanding of Islam and the aspirations of Muslims, both extreme and moderate, and it is useful to listen to him on this subject.
He further warns, “This Islamist agenda is not a pipe-dream for some distant future. It is being pursued energetically right now, in many different areas.” He then gives facts which show that this agenda is being pushed in various fields, including the legal system, education and politics. For example, many public bodies comply with the requirements of sharia law for Muslim staff, and the Department for Work and Pensions allows polygamous families to claim extra welfare benefits for each additional spouse. Islam is presented as moderate; while “the increasing number of mosques, and their magnificence, speak of the presence and permanence of Islam in the West”. Lastly, there is the systematic Muslim mission or dawa, an aspect of which is that “Muslims reject all Christian mission work and seek to suppress it and present it as aggressive, deceitful and evil”.
The need of the hour is that God would, by His Spirit, turn our nation, including its numerous Muslim citizens, to Himself, to worship and serve Him. As far as our duty is concerned, the need of the hour is to pray earnestly for such a blessing and to be diligent in spreading abroad the true religion revealed in Holy Scripture. “Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock” (Ezek 36:37). NMR
1An informative booklet, Slippery Slope: The Islamisation of the UK, by Patrick Sookhdeo, is available from Barnabas Fund, 9 Priory Row, Coventry, CV1 5EX, for 50p.