THE YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

Evening Star, Issue 4258, 19 October 1876, Page 4

THE YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

... HPe the Editor. (, • ° . = Youiig Men’s Christian Association has’reached-a critical point in its hist; .a i/ position of eminence second to nonein his own denominname., for ability and Courage, igffioubrably knoWh te'ybhd it, has been proposedAs a ,member of the AqsoCia r-i • X Hour OFdf -reasons it would apT 'pearidbe the duty ! and interest ofthe As- ' ; iboiation towelcome such .a man >to its. ,f. j ; 'toefahefaMp. The ; As. ociation' professes,; .and, indeed, for it to exist at must profriendly to:the churches whence ‘ j i’i j * iir'draWs •iW members 4 . and Mr Fitchetf ' • m the f r ■ bhe of these' Churches. The Assbc:a'io : Bppn a basis broad •nbhgn to include ‘members ;of all so-called Evangelical Churches, ’ and of one of the -greafeifc of ..thefe Churches MrFitphett is a . recognised minister. TChe membership of the Association embraces a. considerable oj -feumbero! Mr Fitchett’s dock ;.:, it was there fore to be presumed that the Association would Welcome him. ■ ~ .. , -. TO,e has been submitted to the t /'Bqardjtb which is entrusted the manage--1;...: the, Association, and the,reV. geuJ haa heen Rejected. The only reason assigned for this remarkr - -if ji'Jablp.flCtiott4fi MriKtchett has del-red himself a believer in the theory of Evolur turn.., Mri Ktche.tt; is not alone in this , , declaration, even in so small a place as IV ew WttrlcL of Cblonial .C,r.’.. shirts but bf our view—it is well faiowU'th t sbofres of eminent divines havb partly or wholly accepted’ the theory, and : ‘ the number of those who have declared

theluwillingnesa to accept it, so soon as tbe . '■:■■ ■ ’/v acieniific proof becomes sufficient, is indefinitely great. ' The scientific conviction of the rev. gentle- ; Mah htt^ : so he assures Us, left his Christian> and Is not even inconsistent ’t L strict theory .of Bible 3 '. j< fitaphaficm. ‘ Indeed, one of thq most impor\ll his lecture— the ‘X ■ .' critics would add, bne ; of the vs, , his epdeavof to find hints of the dootnne of Evolutaqnihthe Mosaic narrasu *i,T .#ve itself. ... r ' v „‘ v ' . # .’ • As to"the' rerV. gentlemeh himself, 1 apait fropi his Bvolutiqnisin, I can only say that ' ( ,i.~ T ffie,has befpfe, the public of Nqw f Zea-. haj3_earned a'high" for ,intellectual ,vigor, catholicity of spirit, and moral 'courage in every place C II . .whOEO-he'. has. been located ; ancthas every-• where and always borne ah" unblemished , character. -■ ' ; " H' And this is the matt that some haljfdOzen ’ ’ members of tw?Board c£ the Young Men's y ! !; i Association have succeeded in ‘biyikbhlling; A professedly Catholic Asso- , , piation has thus rejected one of the. most a ecatholiO-Spifited clergymen in the community. An association, one of whose aims is, “intellectual 'improvement," has rejected one of the most cultured of our citizens. An association, which professes to co-operate . arr J, ,T wi|h certain Churches, has rejected a: gentle t* ;. status represents One of these o 5,% - A j, has .v; Waokhslkd an. honored minister Itjfi tuaodio~Bay tihat the action—rimless, ni 3 full ndeaftng|Of i^rmemberabfp amuses it— stamps 'the association as a pbiin, It professes lb bo what it is not.'

There is hardly, a feature in its character 'which its. administration does not belie. Even as.it stands, the fact of MrFitchett’s black balling is full c {significance. The demand ot the age is for religious teachers who are abreast of it's intellectual movement; men neither ignorant of the results of modem research, nor afraid to accept them ;• men intellectually robust, and of fearless speech. 11 would appear, however,"that a Considerable number of the members -of' our Churches not only have Bodpsirefor such men, but are bent upon putting them down. If a man dares to think for hihiEelf, he is to be suspected; if he has the courage to express his convictions, he is to be , stigmatised. And yet the Churches complain that the intelligence and culture of tbe age are not only deserting them, but are becoming hostile. -T3b not see wikt- thfey have gof to complain of. The Church cannot.get n cultured, and at the same time a true man to consent that ignorance bigotry Shall prescribe the terms and limits of his creed. I venture to say that, able as - were the lectures recently delivered in this City by Professor Salmond, and useful as in many important respects they were, more harm will be done to the churches interested, in the judgment of candid men, by this act of the Association, Unless reversed, than, the J.6!^^e^^Ye.d9necopd. Tsincerely hope, for the Usefulness’ of the Association, for its fidelity to its Constitution, and for, the interesta,of religion in this community, that" the meihbers will refuse, by endorsing the act of their Board, to in* diet such a .reproach, upon themselves and such a scandal upon our 'common Christianity.—l am, Ac,, Philalethes. Dunedin, October 19.

To the Editor.

.Sir,— The facilities, afforded by the liberality of t)ie. Cplonial Press lead to the appearance in ,print jof.’ an, amount of crudi-' ties on all subjects wondei ful'to behold jit is ludicrous to . observe the eagerness with which thp appearance of an opening for a fling at Christian;, professors is seized by persons generally conspicuously ignorant,of the subject. A striking exataple of this is in ', your last night’s issue.in the form of half a column of vetbiage oU the subject of recent .action by the Dunedin Young Men’s ChrisAssociation. . ' ’ !• ,It'wquld be a w&tpbf time and space' to follow, the verbose mean'd of “ M.G,” , but ! would simply say it appears to me {an Pntsxdp) that ‘the: Yoiing Men’s Christian Aiapgatipn have merely! ( exercised their indoubted right -conscientiously and with much regret at the necessity • also that it is npt;.(thapk God) essential that a.man,should ba- “quite: equal, to the investigation of scientific subjects ” to be a Chiistian, and to know fnudamental Christian doctrine'. Nether idqcij the Association pretend to infallibility; at thp, same time they are the judges as a society, aiid-the only judges who shad it. . . -, ; >r “Or really suppose that there is a reservation ahd ! a difference made in heaven eternal”—by whom, or how, or what,differ--ence? If thefe is’ any meaning in the above : sehtehee, it transcends 'Tb the’fra’sli about sanding sugar, arrogance, and perfection, I would 0 say that no one necessarily knows his imperfection as well as ; a and makes less pretension to perfectness,'although it is, or should be, the aspiration,of;hib>lif®- : :, It is funny to note “ M.C.’a” fancied superiority tb “ cant,!’ evidently under the delusion that there ik ; no cant but in connection vrith t.eligiou, and.'totally oblivipus ■to the faetdbat his’ own’production is nearly all Pant, and very ’common cant too.—l am, &c,, ‘ - Patrician. . Danedin, October 19.