PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4278, 5 December 1874, Page 2

PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand was opened last evening, in St, John’s Church, Willis-street, the various divisions of ■ the colony being represented by ministers in attendance. The Assembly was opened by the customary religious services, the retiring Moderator (the Rev. James Hill) preaching a sermon from the text Hebrews xi., 6, at the conclusion of which the members of the Assembly, and several other Christian friends present, joined in the solemn services of the Communion. The retiring Moderator then, in a few well chosen remarks, proposed the Rev. Mr. McKinney, of .Mahurangi (Auckland), as Moderator for the ensuing term. The Rev. Mr. Paterson seconded the motion, which was unanimously agreed to. The Rev. Mr. Bruce then conducted the Rev. Mr. McKinney to the Moderator's chair, the members of the Assembly standing to receive him. moderator's address. The Moderator delivered the following address :

Fathers and Brethren, —In taking this chair to which you have now appointed me, I have first of all to thank you for the honor which you have thus done me. It is, indeed, a great honor—the highest honor which the branch of Christ's church with which we are connected has it in her power to bestow. When I consider the importance of the position which, through your kindness, I now occupy, and the responsibilities which are attendant upon it, it is no affected humility on ray part, when I acknowledge that I ahnost shrink from entering on the office of your Moderator. But when, in regard to the position I now occupy, and the responsibilities under which I am now placed, I might be disposed to say, “Who is sufficient for these things J ” I know who it is that has said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Trusting then that that grace will bo vouchsafed to me, which is never withheld from those who eai - - nestly seek it, and fathers and brethren, on your accustomed kindness and forbearance, I enter upon the duties connected with the office of the Moderatorship of the General Assembly of this Church. I have referred to the feelings, which, looking at the matter in some of its aspects, I acknowledge I can hardly but entertain in entering upon the position in which I am now placed. These feelings I could not but entertain, in ordinary times, and under ordinary circumstances. But we live, as it appears to me, in no ordinary times, and the circumstances in which the Church is placed in the present day are no ordinary circumstances. Were we, after the maimer of a well-known Church historian, to divide the affairs that affect the Church’s interests into such as are adverse and such as are prosperous, we fear that the former would occupy a very prominent position. This is apparent if we regard only some* of the phenomena that exist in the several branches of the Church itself, especially in some of those branches of it that, in reference to numbers and worldly influence, occupy a foremost position in the ranks of Christendom. Never before, as it appears to me, had the Master more reason to complain that His “enemies are the men of his own house.”

It is a sad fact that very much of the adverse influence which is brought to bear upon Christianity in the present day, is brought to bear upon it by men who assume the garb of friendship, and by men who profess the highest regard for our blessed religion. This friendship is often assumed, and this profession is often made by men who, as it seems to me, are nevertheless hard at work laboring to the utmost of their power in order to sap the very foundations of the Christian edifice. Professions of this kind are even made when the men who make them are seeking to eliminate out of the Christian system every element of the supernatural. While professing to do us good, and to contend with us for the faith once delivered to the saints, these men would take away from us an incarnate Redeemer, a risen Saviour, and even a Deity, or, what amounts to the same thing, a Deity possessing the attributes of a personal existence.

This opposition (whether professedly friendly or openly hostile) which Christianity is meeting with in the present day, comes from various quarters. The stores of history, of philology, of antiquarianism, of metaphysics, and of transcendentalism, are ransacked for weapons wherewith to wage this warfare. But doubtless the attacks which are of the greatest consequence in themselves, and which are of the most frequent recurrence, are those which are made in the name of physical science. Yet between Christianity and science there should not be warfare, but alliance. The war between them is, as Dean Stanley calls it, “an unnatural civil war.” Both, if it were rightly understood, ought to be working together for the same ends. Both have, or ought to have before them, as their ultimate aim, the attainment of the same grand objects—the discovery and the dissemination of truth, and the advancement of the well-being of humanity. Doubtless it has to be acknowledged that the Church herself is very far from being blameless for the antagonism, which, in a greater or less degree, has always existed, and does still exist, between her and science. Indeed, so very far is she from being blameless, that we will confess that the chapter of her history on this subject is perhaps the most melancholy chapter that could be written.. Neither is it a chapter that is without its ludicrous aspects. Many things might be referred to in illustration of this ; but what, for example, could appear to us now more ludicrous than the arguments of the distinguished Turretin against the Copemican system of astronomy. First he argues that the sun, according, to the bible, moves in the heavens—rises and sets. Secondly, that the sun miraculously stood still in the time of Joshua, and miraculously went back in the time of Hezekial. Thirdly, that the earth is said in scripture to be established that it cannot be moved. Bom-Ilily, that neither, if the system of Copernicus were true, could birds, which fly away from their nests, ever be able to return to them again. If it be said, in answer to this, that the Word of God in such matters speaks according to popular opinion Turretin replies:—First, that the Spirit of God best understands such matters; again, that He is not the author of any error ; and again, that He is not to be corrected on this ground by our blind reason.. But if Christian apologetics have not been without aspects of the nature that I have referred to, neither has * what has been called science. Indeed, it is not without in some degree such aspects in the present day. This is evident when we see men, for example, spending their strength on such scholastic subtleties as the empty ontological inquiries that at present engage so much of their attention. We ought to be progressing, and we boast that wo are. The nineteenth century is never done taking credit to itself in this respect, and very much of that credit I rejoice in giving it. Yet what are men doing, who are spending their energies in the directions that we have indicated, better than was done thousands of years ago by the old G reck and Homan philosophers, who fancied that they could account for the origin of things by the operation of simple elementsmf cosmic agency) or by the chemical combination of these plastic elements. Thales* and Bmpedocles, and Theocritus are rivalled, and no more than rivalled, by the men who weary us with disquisitions on the supposed generating power of nebulous matter, or atomic particles, or protoplastic entities. That I am not exaggerating as to these tendencies of modern speculation, I need only refer to the famous British Association addresses—that of Sir William Thomson, and that of Professor Tyndall:—“Because we all confidently believe," says Sir William, “ that there are at present, and have been from time immemorial, many worlds of life besides our own, we must x*egard it as probable in the highest degree that there are countless seedbearing meteoric stones moving about through space. If at the present instant no life existed .upon this earth, one such stone falling upon it might, by what we blindly call natural causes, lead to its becoming covered with vegetation. The theory, he adds, “ that life originated on this earth through mossgrown fragments |from the ruins of another world may seem wild and visionary.” To mo

it • certainly seems so ; and it seems also to succeed in removing far enough away from mundane affaire the divine Originator to content even an Epicurus. It remained, however, for Tyndall to propound an hypothesis by which this divine Originator is removed still further away, if indeed the necessity for His existence is not dispensed with altogether. “ Abandoning all disguise,” it is well that he does that; “Abandoning all disguise,” says he, in his Belfast address, “ the confession that 1 feel bound to make before you is, that I prolong the vision backward across the boundary of experimental evidence, and discern in that matter which we, in our ignorance, and notwithstanding our professed reverence for its Creator, have hitherto covered with opprobrium, the promise and potency of every form and quality of life.” On reading such things as these, one cannot but be reminded of the old words of Locke “Were the capacities of our understandings well and the horizon found, which sets the bounds between the enlightened and dark parts of things, between what is and what is not comprehensible by ue, men would not perhaps let their thoughts wander into those depths, where they can find no sure footing, nor multiply disputes, which, never coming to any clear resolution, are proper only to continue and increase their doubts.” One, indeed, on reading such things, cannot help being reminded of still older words. Xenophon tells tells us about Socrates that “he did not dispute about the nature of things, as most philosophers disputed, speculating how that which is called by Sophists the world was produced, and by what necessary laws .everything in the heavens is effected, but endeavored to show that those who chose such subjects of contemplation were foolish.” But there are other aspects of the peculiar tendencies of modern thought, to which I have adverted, that are of still more serious consequence than those that I have spoken of. The doctrine in which all those tendencies have their origin is of course the doctrine that the affairs of the universe are left to be governed by law—whatever that really means—God seldom or never interfering. Now this doctrine, it was easy all along to see, without the acknowledgments that have been recently made, is but a rival of the old philosophy of Epicurus and Theocritus; and what is

the moral aspect of this doctrine ? Cicero, in his book “ De Natura Deorum” tells us the aspect of it that was presented by Epicurus himself. “ Epicurus,” he says, “ openly avows —(an avowal that is the natural result of the removal of the Deity from the government of mundane affairs, and the consequent absence of moral accountability)—that he has no idea of any good separate from certain pleasures, which, without a blush, he names distinctly.” Fabricius, one of the last of the Romans, plainly enough indicated, in a speech to the Roman Senate, what he thought of the Epicurean doctrines when he said that “ the worst that he could wish the enemies of the republic was that they should become Epicureans;” Epicureanism in fact, it is well enough known, corrupted and enervated the Roman people, and, more than anything else, prepared the way for the ultimate downfall of the Roman Empire. Yet the man, whom Cicero speaks of as knowing no good except such as consisted in immoral pleasure, Tyndall holds up for our admiration as a sort of derai-god, and the doctrines which are simply detested by the wisest and the best of the philosophers and statesmen of antiquity—men who are called heathen—are enthusiastically embraced by men who, I suppose, would be offended with us if we did not still call them Christians. Have we not reason to expect, then, that the same fruits shall come from the promulgation of these opinions now as came from them in the ancient world ? Alas ! we fear that the answer to this is already in some degree given. That it is so is evident, as has been lately shown in the Quarterly Review, from the moral teachings and the moral tendencies that are beginning unmistakeably to manifest themselves. We have a sample in Lecky of the moral teachings and the moral tendencies of a man of this school, a man, too, who occupies in it a very distinguished position. Lecky in his “ History of European Morals” says : “ There are always multitudes who, in the period of their lives when their passions are most strong, are incapable of supporting children in their own social rank, and who would, therefore, injure society by marrying in it, but who are, nevertheless, perfectly capable of securing an honorable career for their illegitimate children in the lower social sphere to which they would naturally belong. Under the conditions I have mentioned, these connections are not injurious, but beneficial; they soften the differences of rank, they stimulate social habits, and they do not produce upon society the injurious effects of imprudent marriages.” But although the course which philosophical speculation appears so much disposed to, taka in the present day must, in one aspect of it, be in a great degree necessarily profitless, and in another aspect of it just as necessarily pernicious, there is no doubt about the sad fact of the great ability of the men who are taking that course. Froude speaks of “ the present alienation of the higher intellect from religion;" and he tells us that “ a general doubt is coming up like ' a thunderstorm against the wind, and blackening the sky.” Elsewhere, he says, “ The positive creed has lapsed from a rule of life into a debated opinion ; and is no longer respected in our philosophies. Its threats and its promises, however clamorously uttered from the pulpits, are endured with weariness or with the attention of resentful incredulity.” Doubtless, there is exaggeration in these statements, as unhappily there is exaggeration in too much that has been given to the world by the school of Carlyle, of which Froude is perhaps the foremost disciple. But there is also, it must be confessed, too much truth in them—truth that deserves to be most seriously thought upon by all who have at heart the interests of our blessed religion. , And it is being thought upon—thought upon deeply and earnestly. Many of the best and unseat of Christians have their thoughts absorbingly turned in this direction at the present moment. Some, indeed, are so perplexed about these matters as to be unable to see any satisfactory issue out of the position at which we have arrived in the ordinary course of Divine Providence. The crisis through which we are passing is not unlike tha through which the world passed immediately before the introduction of Christianity, and there are some praying now even as one of the old heathen philosophers prayed then, that “God would impart to men some kind of divine manifestation by which their doubt might be set at rest.” Some say that unless the Son of Man comes, according to His promise, and comes soon, faith will ere long be hardly found on the earth. But as I do not share the fears of such men, neither do I consider that theirs is a reasonable way of expecting that the difficulty will be met. Doubtless, the Lord is to come again, and the best hopes of humanity are centered in His coming. But, until God’s good time for this arrival, which in His own wise providence He has appointed, we are not to sit down with folded hands, and neglect tho instrumentalities which the Lord has at present placed in our power. We are not, I say, until God’s good time comes, to look for any supernatural interposition. And yet God is giving to us in the present day evidence of Divine oversight and Divine guidance in the affairs of His Church, that can bo regarded as little less than supernatural. The way in which light is being thrown upon perplexing' questions in connection with the Word of God, and thrown upon it at such opportune times, shows at all events, and that in an extraordinary manner, tho overruling hand of a Divine Providence. 1 confess I was myself most wonderfully struck with the evidence of this that was furnished lately in relation to the famous governorship of Syria by Cyrenius, or Quireuus, and the chronology of our Lord’s birth as connected therewith. This, as you know, was a matter that perplexed the commentators from the earliest ages of the Church’s history to the present time, and that furnished a handle to the unbelievers from almost the days of the Apostles to those of M. Renan, who makes a good deal of it. How,, however, through what has been called by a distinguished biblical scholar the “discovery” a

Dr. Zucipt, the difficulty is entirely removed, and the accuracy of the Gospel narrative in reference to this point established beyond the possibility of question. In this part of the world in which Providence has cast our lot, have we not also, my brethren, evidence of a divine agency at work that is little less than supernatural ? Have we not evidence of this before our eyes 10, for example, the fulfilment of ancient prophecy ? No one before our day could understand, as we can, how the divine promises in regard to this could bo fulfilled. No one before us could have seen, as we can, the isles being brought to wait upon the Lord, and the ends of the earth to see His salvation.

It may be, however, that these matters that I have just referred to would go but little length in bringing conviction to the minds of those in whose case it is especially necessary that conviction should be wrought. It may be that they would do but little good to those who have embraced the doctrines of Evolutionism, or Pantheism, or Materialism, or Positivism. If the men who are leading the assault upon Christian truth from these quarters are to be met and contended with they must be met and contended with on their own ground. It will not do for us then, my brethren, to ignore these subjects. It will not do for us to neglect them. It must result in disaster to tis who are ministers of religion if we act in that manner. We may have much to do otherwise, and much of very necessary work. We, who are in the colonial field, may have most of all much other work to attend to. We cannot neglect, at the peril of our highest interests, the planting of churches in a land like ours, into which multitudes are flocking yearly. We cannot neglect, at the peril of our highest interests, endeavoring to the very utmost of our power to carry the Gospel to the . remotest homesteads of our fellow colonists. But we cannot neglect either those other matters to which I have been referring—matters which it is evident are as compared with any others of no subordinate importance. In referring again to these matters to which I have been calling your attention, Proude says: —“ The creed of eighteen centuries is not however about to fade away like an exhalation, nor are the new lights of science so exhilirating that serious persons can look with comfort to exchanging one for the other.” No, X say assuredly not \ The creed of eighteen centuries is not about to fade away like an exhalation ; and it would be but a poor exchange that mankind would make if they exchanged it for the dreamy reveries of Pantheism, or the cheerless dogmas of Positivism, or the hopeless beliefs of Materialism. There may be dark days coming in the history of the Christian Church. There were dark days before Christianity when it waa r first introduced. It needed centuries before the light of the apostolic sun could penetrate through that darkness. What has been in this respect might be again. Ido not myself, however, dread even that. But evenif itdidtakeplace,of theultimate triumph nevertheless of our blessed religion X Ido not myself entertain a doubt. It comes from the EtSmaL Its truths,, in their divine simplicity, and in their fitness to meet the deepest needs of our fallen humanity, bear the stamp of His character, and they shall be like Himself —eternal fn their duration. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or one tittle of these truths shall pass away. They shall live and exercise a potent influence for good when the speculations of our modem unbelievers shall have passed into that oblivion which in due time awaited the speculations of the various races of their predecessors. The rains may descend, and the floods may come, and the winds may blow and beat upon th'e Church, but it shall not fall, for it is founded upon a rock. We have his own words for It, which we know are true, that the dominion of our Lord,id an 4< everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” COMMITTEES. A business committee was appointed, consisting of the Rev. J. Hill, Rev. J. Paterson, and Mr. J. Smith, with a clerk j convener, Rev. J. Hill. All other members of the House were appointed a committee on bills, overtures, appeals, &c.; Rer. J. Kirkland, convener. The latter committee to meet at half-past nine o’clock, in the church, the former at ten o’clock. REPLY OP THE LATE GOVERNOR. The following reply of Sir James Fergusson, to an address from the Assembly, was read : To the Reverend the Ministers and Elders op the Presbyterian Church op New > Zealand. Gentlemen, —I thank you for the loyal and cordial address which you have been pleased to convey to I receive with much gratification the good wishes and encouragement upon my entrance on the duties of my office of the representatives of the Presbyterian Church, in which I am glad to know that there have been reunited the various sections of the National Church of Scotland. I am glad also to perceive that an efficient provision has been made in this country for the religious care of our fellow-countrymen who have made it their adopted home, and I hope that the success and progress of your organisation may keep pace with the increase and the needs of your people. I trust that in the sphere of my own duties I may be privileged to contribute to the attainment of the great purposes for which you are laboring. James Flkuusson, Governor. Government House, Wellington, Feb. 25,1874. ADDRESS TO THE NEW GOVERNOR. The Very Rev, the Moderator, the Rev. the ex-Moderator, the J. Paterson, and the Rev. P. Calder were appointed a committee to prepare an, address for presentation to the Marquis of Normanby upon his arrival in Wellington. FUTURE BUSINESS. Before the close of the meeting the Rev. Mr. Paterson announced that His Honor the Superintendent had kindly placed the Provincial-hall at the disposal of the Assembly, where its meetings would in future be held. The proceedings then terminated.