LAY PREACHING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 18

LAY PREACHING.

A COURSE OF LECTURES. There was commenced on the 3rd inst. in the V.M.C.A. Rooms ft. series of lectures on "Preaching," to be delivered by th« Rev. G. Knowles Smith. The series X designed to aiford assistance to divinity students; lay' preachers, and- Christian workers. " . , " "The Pulpit of To-day" was the tatU of the addTess for the evening, and prior of the address for the evening, who said : The changed condition of the - pulpit might" in kom« measure be traceel to per : feotly natural causes, the first of which was tha>t, instead of, as in former, years, being the only channel of ' intellectual oultua-e, the Church now found her rivals in the very institutions she had herself oreated. In the second place, the preacher no longer through the sea-mon contributed the only human aid to tbe cultivation of tihe spiritual life. The operation of such causes as these was perfectly natural, and in them was not seen the decadence of the pulpit but rather an extension of its scope by the multiplication of the publications of the press and the means for the development of a higher intellectual life without a direct dependence vipon the pulpit. But there were other •influences than these natural ones at work, causing many of the vacant seats to be found in tho ohuirohes to-day. The first of these was the materialistic trend of modern education, especially in its higher branches. The growth of scientific knowledge in the nineteenth century, and the discovery of certain goreat laws, had induced a belief thai science and the Bible were necessarily opposed. At present the soiemtifie student was so enwrapped with the material discoveries that were being made that he could not see past them to the Creator. That, however, was but a passing phase, and it was being found that science was but- the handmaid of spiritual truth. A second cause came almost as a .necessary sequence from .the first — the development of uncertainty and the consequent spirit of- douiit. The- abandonment of many precon- [ oeived ideas bad led to the growth ! of what was called the scientific temper which led men of research to demand Droof of everything upon certain defined lines. That attitude was brought to religion, and proofs were demanded, the fact that the realm of spiritual truth was totally different from materjla soiences being entirely ignored. The Higher Criticism had created a vatruc unrest amongst students of the Divine Word, which perhau* :n: n turn found its echo in utterances from the pulpit until the multitude was perplexed to know what to believe, and ended by believing nothing at all. A third cause was the debased and debasing current ideals of life. These found expression in the subordination, on the one hand, of everything to the accumulation of wealth, and on the other in a maddened rush for pleasure. To both classes, but especialy to the latter, the atmosphere of the puLpit was a standing r<?buke, and the lecturer paused to remark that he thought this phase was one upon which in the discussion upon why the masses did not go to church insufficient attention had been bestowed. Fourthly, and finally, the revolution in social and political conditions was advanced as a reason explanatory of the difficulty of ministering in the modern pulpit. Although unattended by the horrors of " the French Revolution, the changes of the past few yeajs had been none the less radical and deep. The nation was experiencing a readjustment, and in this transition stage the Church had a most difficult task. The blatant spirit of an atheistic and srross ideal, if ideal it could be called, had captured the workers' camp, and by its wild and extravagant denunciations of all who did not swallow its so-called Socialism had roused the bitter antipathy of the middle and more wealthy classes, making a 6ane and ■ righteous readjustment for the time being impossible. The Christian Church must fearlessly and unflinchingly hold the balance

j equitably between both parties, notwith- | standing tihat the immediate consequence ; was that each in its heat and temper mis- , interpreted the Church's action and accused it of being in the other's favour. Their only attitude towards that feeling must bethat; of patient forbearance, and by and by the mists would clear and the faithful pulpit be fully vindicated. The address concluded with a fine quotation from Martin Luther, indicative of the high ideal which ' should be held before all engaging in the- . work of the lay ministry.