RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1836, 23 August 1913, Page 9

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY.

WHAT IS MAN? DEBATE BETWEEN RATIONALISTS AND CLEKGY., "What is manf" Ihe question, so easy to answer oflftand, yet so hard to satisdy with an exact munition, proved a veritable bono of contention at bt. Phillip's Hall, Churoh Mill bydney, on August 12, when the intended parochial conierejuce was converlod into a stirring theological controversy, the established doctrines of Christianity were assailed by a number of rationalists ami vigorously defended by Church champions. Canon Bollingham presided, and the hall was packed to tho doors, scores standing in the passages and at the entrance. Toward? the end of tllo discussion tha interruptions caused tho chairman to repeatedly appeal for a fair hearing, Mr. Jieathcote, a rationalist, and an Oxford graduate, congratulated the Church 011 the new departure. "In the old days," he said, "tho Church said, 'If you don't behevo this you are damned.' Tho Church said you must not think. If you do wo will burn you, and they did. Now they are prepared to reason with us." Tho subject was opened )>y Canon Scott, wlio a-cad a paper by the Bishop of Newcastle upon "Alan: The Image of God." "A subject sa great and mysterious," >contnvued l)r. Stretch, "can hardly bo proved.if 13 mus k be a matter of revelation, ror how could man's unaided intellect have ventured on such an audacity? Tho question comes again and again, 'Are these great thougnts a present fact partially revealed or merely illusions?' The very loftiness of tho idea, tho audacity of the.conception 'that man is made in the image of God/ seems a strong evidence of that it is essentially true and a matter of direct revelation."

lhe line of argument tlwn followed was to examine tho records of Scripture, uoid compare it with wliat was known of human development. After citing various texts the writer contended that the idea, "Man, the Image of God," was inspiring ami uplifting, a challenge and sumlnoiis to advance. There was the upward movement of mail and tho downward condescension of God. Christ was tho goal and the finite and tho door of the infitito. Tho study of Scriptures was philosophy by inspiration, history read by lightning flashes. "Man as Sinful" was the theme of tho second address delivered by the Rov. G. of oly Tnu ity, Dulwich Hill.. Hi-© explanation of the sorrow and misery of the world, ho said, lay in tho fact of sin. The problem of sin i'ouud its solution in the Gross.

Mr. _ Miles caimed to be an optimist, but did not believe in, any God nor iu any after life. Christian pluck was a very poor thing. (Dissent and interruption.) "I'll say what I like here. Not one Christian was fit to tackle M'Cabe. luvtionalism would score every time. A large number of churchmen thought rationalists were intellectual monkeys. Sin' was not a terrible thing at all, Md tho talk of ministers was utter nonsense and gigantic balderdash. Man was only a combination of chemicals, and there atvei was a God. (Laughter, dissent, and applause.) Canon Archdall, in a spirited defenoe of Christianity, pointed out that tho main tacts of Dr. Stretch's paper had been absolutely unassailed. Mr. Heathcote held that rationalism was the final appeal to reason. Tho case for Christianity presumed a revelation. The Bible assumed that Genesis was a revelation; yet Genesis gave two different accounts of the creation, which worn mutually exclusive. Their knowledge of •Jesus was very limited, and what they did know showed him to be a communistic anarchist.

Rov. E. Digges la Touclie, aftor showing how the greatest scientists were Christiaii •believers, dsalt with, tho €ver-pre-sent fact of sin, and derided tho rationalists' statement that it was a wasto oftime to worry about sin. • 'H-V' P'u.M that if man' was made m Gcd's imaw ho was sorry for God. A voice: 'How do you account for the origin of man?"

Mr. Child: "I don't know. I was not there. (Laughter.) Christianity shifted its ground. It said that at tho creation all was very good, lint did tho animals eat each other?"

Dr. .Radford: "I don't know. I was not there." (Loyd laughter.) Mr. Child: "If the animals ato each other all was not good. It .vou say thev did not, then you' contradict science." .(Hear, hear.) Dr. Radford showed how European rationalism was poisoning the minds of tho rising generation. Ho had tho deepest sympathy with intellectual ditiiculty. Ho recounted what tho Church had done in the way of education, fiud combated tho idea that tho Bible waß contradictory. Rev. G. A. Chalmers, in conclusion, said they could judge Christianity liy its origin.