A 20th Century Auto-da-Fe
Report comes from the Philippine Islands of the burning of a quantity of Bibles and Testaments by a Roman Catholic priest in the public square of Vigan, a town on the north-west coast of Luzon. The American Bible Society, publisher of the burnt books, is said to have received confirmation of the report from its agent there.
What will Rome's apologists think now, who, when warned against her present encroachment with a recounting of her frightful history, appeal to the change which has taken place in the times. She would never do now, they say, in these enlightened times, what she did in the dark ages. Yet here, under the government of the United States, is proof plain enough that, whatsoever change there may be in the times, or in her tactics, Rome's character has not changed. Her past hatred of the Bible is still the same; the light of the 20th century has not restrained her from burning it; nor would she have less delight at burning as well such as love and obey it, as was her wont when she sat upon the "scarlet colored beast," that is, when she controlled and used the Roman Imperial Power. The Reformation and subsequent events threw her off the saddle, but her political intrigues never cease in their endeavor to regain that place, for it is only by the mastery over governments that she can fulfil her Satan-inspired desire.
Think for a moment on this spectacle:A man going from the United States to the Philippines, representing himself as a servant of Christ, going there to instruct heathen, then burning before their eyes in a public place the Book which ministers Christ, from which alone Christians know Christ! That Book, once burned, what is there to be given to those benighted people ? What guilt, what deceit, to pose before the world as "the Church," "the spouse of Christ," and destroy the precious word of God, either in public where their priests dare so to do, or in a more subtle way decry it or withdraw it from the people!
But a rekindling of its fires might prove a blessing in disguise. It might arouse the dead souls of a multitude of so-called Protestants who are on the brink of apostasy; who possess little or nothing more to protest for, and therefore little or nothing more to protest against. So "broad-minded" and " charitable " have they become that they can get on very well with both light and with darkness, with truth and with error, with Christ and Belial. What difference is it to them if Christ is given up for Mary; the full, ever-efficient atonement of the Cross which provides an eternal salvation, for an idolatrous, blasphemous Mass which exalts the priest and degrades Christ, giving the willingly-duped people a lie for the truth, and doubt in place of the blessed Christian assurance! For who ever saw a devotee of the Mass able to join with Paul in "giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered tis from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. i:12-14). So absolutely worthless is their " Mass " that on the tombs of its devotees the passer-by is even begged to pray for the repose of their soul! Alas, unconverted " Protestants" do not mind whether we have a divine Saviour upon whom to pour out the adoration of our grateful hearts, or images, crucifixes, relics and dead men's bones; to have a Father's bosom into which to honestly confess our sins, and be cleansed from them, or a Confessional, with a sinner like ourselves in it, as incapable to cleanse and forgive the sinner as to create a world. The Book, God's Book, what is it to such dead souls who know or hear something of it only when there is a funeral in the house ?
Modern Evangelism has shed some rays of light in the midst of the darkness, and one thanks God for that, but it has aimed at monster gatherings, and to that end has used means entertaining rather than instructive, and has therefore not improved things much. What lack in Sunday-schools also to furnish the young minds with the precious word of God! Geography, history and morals, well and good in their place, are not the word of God which lays hold of heart and conscience and prostrates man before God. Where that is lacking, the soul is not held fast, but is liable to drift with every wind of doctrine that may come along.
One of old said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them" (Jer. 15:16). Only thus are we furnished by it for every emergency. Only thus are we able to overcome all the foes of our souls. It was by this Luther dethroned Popedom. Brandishing the Book in his hand, and eating its words in his soul, he became invincible, and his stand impregnable. O friends, let us return to the word of God, as little children receiving in faith its holy teachings, and spiritual energy and power will not be wanting for the needs of our times. With that Book in their hearts our aged men will insist that things at home be in keeping with it, and will pour out their substance to send a hundred where one has been burned. Our aged women will "teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands" (Titus 2:4, 5). What a change this would make in the conditions of Christendom !
Our young men also, with the Book in their hearts, will readily offer themselves to carry it on their backs and in their lives in the dark parts of the earth, whether at home or abroad. The favor and the power of God go with it, and wherever it goes and takes root, it transforms, changes, beautifies everything.
'' Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Ps. 119:11).
On Giving
Request has come to us to write on the subject of giving. It is alleged that assemblies of the Lord's people here and there, now slack in the matter, would surely reap blessing if they but realized their responsibilities in it. We confess that, to us, it has always been a delicate and difficult subject to treat of. Yet it has an important place in the word of God, and cannot be neglected without loss. We hope to take it up in our next issue.