OUR PULPITS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2460, 5 February 1881, Page 2

OUR PULPITS.

By P.R

It seems to be, by the operation of a natural law,"that religious establishments become insupportable to many minds. Discontented members either lose heart altogether, and give up Christianity for infidelity, or they go back to the primitive days and take a firm stand by the belief and practices of the early church and determine _ to restore, in their own century, the simplicity of Apostolic times, and .the. “ monarchy of the Holy Ghost.” The outcome of ibis has been the establishment of numerous sects and the promulgation of all sorts of doctrines, founded upon all sorts of interpretations of the scriptures ; and practices the most grotesque, views the most distorted have, from time to time, engaged the attention of the religious world. Ignorant minds gladly transferred their belief to the first theory that bore the stamp of novelty. The vulgar crowd, left to itself in a wilderness of misery and doubt, repeated the old story. Moses being absent, the people fall eagerly down before the golden calf that Aaron sets up. Occasionally this severance of connection with existing institutions has been followed by more cheering results. There has sometimes been a return to the simple integrity of the pure faith as set forth by the Founder and proclaimed by his apostles. But that, in its turn, has degenerated. The movement so made has led further than its originators expected. Charybdis has been avoided only to fall into Scylla, The discarding of forms, customs, and usages has led to confusion, vagueness, and spiritual pride of the most pronounced kind. Perhaps the most noteworthy of the separatists of modern days are tho Plymouth Brethren, as they are commonly called. Not, indeed, that they arc the most prominent or most advanced ; but their theory is one which most challenges the attention of thoughtful minds, for it is not based upon a mere whim or a fantastical notion or a strained and distorted rendering. It is a theory which (regarded as a theory) has much to recommend it, is eminently scriptural, and could have originated only in minds deeply impressed with religious views, and imbued with extraordinary piety. This sect, or body, came into notice about 1830, and one of its principal apostles was the Rev John Darbj', sometime an Anglican clergyman, from whom came the name of . Darby ites, by which the body' was known in some parts. The Brethren are distinguished, as a religious body, rather by their anti patliies than by any formula of peculiar belief. They in no wise reject the scriptural basis upon which ecclesiastical structures are reared, but they denounce the structures themselves. They assert (with what show of reason it may be worth everyone’s while to reflect), that the cause of Christ has become merely the cause of a Church, that in. the elaboration of systems of worship the guidance of the Holy Ghost has been neglected for the wisdom of men, and that membership of an ecclesiastical communion has come to depend upon compliance and profession rather than change of heart. Everything is distasteful to these people that comes of human invention, hence they regard ordination by imposition of Episcopal hands with much repugnance. The one source of all gifts and graces is the Holy Spirit, and the manifestation of such gifts and graces in an individual alone entitles him to enter upon ministerial work. He must exhibit a perfect acquaintance with the Scriptures, and must inculcate the letter of Christian law. He must speak with fervor, and what he says must be strictly in keeping with scriptural phraseology. To the anxious enquirer he must he able to apply freely the salve of suitable texts, to the doubter he must address the most solemn reasoning of the Apostles, to the careless sinner he must speak in burning words, “ He that believeth not shall be damned.” The one step is, unquestioning belief, explanation you must not ask ; reasons — it is presumptuous to require them—only make a spiritual leap and. believe ! Having entered into this state of complete faith, haying found Jesus ” your position is safe, you have nothing to fear. This is Christianity in all its primitive simplicity.. ‘ From this standpoint the Brethren regard the various denominations of the Christian Church with scant charity, and stand aloof waiting for their inevitable downfall. The position which the Brethren occupy before the world is worthy of attention. They advance the standard of the, primitive Church m an age of unparalleled progress ; they seek to restore the simplicity of primitive worship among a people who have discarded it, and the result is for them not a cheering one. For.only comparatively few persons follow their lead and they remain numerically weak. The cause is not far to seek. The fact is the world is not now what it was in Apostolic days. Not only is there no religious persecution, no social or political enmity to Christianity. But mankind has advanced very considerably from the condition of mental and moral darkness in which (despite its culture) it laj r during the first few centuries of the Christian era. Much of its advancemement is due to the spread of Christianity. Christianity is indeed the basis of the world’s progress, and the teachings of Christ are daily becoming more and more the rule of life. The most intelligent Christians fully recognise the value of good works. But the Brethren make no allowance on this account; they ignore the advancement of mankind from its former ignorant, besotted, and vile condition to higher and better things. They gag the mouth of reason, and allow her no sway whatever. They will not hear of eliminating maxims of life from the scripture, and applying them to individual cases. They deprecate anything like liberality, and they make no sort of allowance for changed conditions. Now such an attitude is distinctly antagonistic to the spirit of the age. But if you say so to to any of the Brethren, his reply is that the “ spirit of the age” is simply pride and unbelief. And here most of us will agree they do grievously err. We cannot think, on the whole, that the departure of the human mind from some of the old land-marks is due to pride or unbelief. On the contra.iy there has been no age in which a pure and holy life has been more heartily reverenced, no age in which a higher standard has been aimed at than this in which we live. True religion is regarded nowadays, not so much as a matter of creed as of practice. We have come to believe that he who most closely lives up to the standard of the gospel is the most truly religious, whether he be Unitarian or Trinitarian, Jew or Gentile. To pro- j

claim-afriong; people who take such a comprehensive view of/the duties and position of mankind, that all; this is ,as “ filthy tags,’’that.the one only and indispensable passport to,favor'with Our Fathers -'•asssent' ' of salvatidiY by the cross, is to set them seriously thinking. The mental abandonment re’quired may be a pschycological impossibility with some, and the two great watchwords of “salvation” and ■“'damnation" must be weighed and examined before they are accepted as hearing the peculiar interpretation which these people put.forward. .For the doctrine of a material hell is now by comuon consent being abandoned, even by the most orthodox, and no individual or brotherhood can reasonably expect by supplications or threats to arrest the advancing tide of human intelligence. It is idle to say that human intelligence is putting itself into direct opposition with divine wisdom For human intelligence is the direct offspring of divine wisdom, and to stigmatise it in its onward progress, to denounce it as folly, and pour the vials of impotent wrath upon it, is surely to imply but slight reverence for the source whence it flows. No one, however, can fail to sympathise with the feelings ofthose who withdrew from the corrupt practice and weak teaching of the churches and strove to restore the heartiness and simplicity and power of the Primitive Church. The movement was one prompted by sincere piety, and it awakened a great many to the effete condition into which the various Churches were lapsing. But the Brethren take' far too low a view of human nature, and their pertinacious adherence to the letter of the Scripture often weakens the effect of their teaching. When a preacher talks about the insignificance of the “ blood of bulls and goats,” he seems to forget that these words have now lost half their meaning, that the image they convey is one not within range of his hearer’s knowlege, that, while in an age of sacrificial offerings everybody was familiar with the slaying and offering at the altar of bulls and goats, now-a-daj’s the words convey merely an abstract idea. This is but a solitary instance of the weakness of such teaching. But I must not be understood to imply that sucli creed and teaching as those of the Brethren are without value. I fully realise that (especially among the poor and depraved, among the many thousands of mankind whom in their misery and evil living the Churches either cannot or will not reach, and on whom as we know by daily evidence the iron heel of ’society is un pityingly set —whose life is a round of hard scantily remunerated toil of squalor, of mental darkness and physical discomfort) the burning language, the moving appeal of the Apostolic teaching are productive of incalculably good results. The picture of a personal Itedeemer, of sweet companionship and communion with fellow creatures of like belief is inexpressibly cheering. It is a beautiful oasis in a terribly dreary desert. It is a vision of repose to jaded souls, a glimpse and foretaste of heaven to the wretched. It is such considerations and the reflection that it has been to many an ark of safety that makes us look upon such a movement with indulgence and forgive the extremes to which it has often led.

“The Gospel o£ the Grace of God will (D.V.) be- preached in this hall on Lord’s Day evening. No collection. All are invited.” This is the gist, if not the literal text, of an announcement placed outside the Foresters’ Hall every Sunday. One is disposed to take exception to the proviso of Dco Volcnte, and the puritanism of “ Lord’s Day ” regarding the former as unnecessary because perfectly understood, and the latter as a somewhat ostentatious singularity of expression. But these are minor matters, indicating (literally in limine) the return to primitive simplicity. When I attended, the congregation was painfully small, and shockingly unpunctual. After a meditative silence, one of the Brethren proceeded to OQCupy the pulpit or desk and conduct a ser vice. He was grave, solemn, and deeply impressed with the truth of all he said. Deep-set eyes and an air of abstraction denote intensity and thoughtfulness and a cogitating habit. His reading (but for a slight indistinctness, which seems lingual defect) was extremely good, certainly the best 1 have yet heard in Timaru. The hymns were so read as bring out fully the meaning of the poetry, and the scripture received equally good'rendering. The prayers were not impressive, and we passed to the discourse, which was upon belief, especially having reference to tlie passage, “ He' that believeth not God hath made him a liar” (I. John v., 10.) On this, and on the denunciation to which the Brethren seem particularly addicted, viz., “ he that believeth not shall be damned,” the discour.se was chiefly founded. It was an alternation of lament over the obduracy of men’s hearts, and of depiction of the fate of the unbelieving. Regarded as a discourse, taking only its literary merits into consideration, it was somewhat rambling, and indicated lack of training or special preparation for public work, but it was couched in exceedingly well-chosen language, and delivered (without power, certainly, but) with ease and self - possession and decorum. The singing was loud but harsh and unmelodious, and the congregation looked depressed and sad as they slowly emerged from the hall. The Brethren have gamed somewhat perhaps by their separation from the denominations, but they have lost far more. They have lost power, consolidation, and spirit, and are “ as sheep without a shepherd." Would it not be better for them to go back to their respective folds and exert their influence there in the direction of reform ? As they now are they will afford at best but a refuge for the discontented, and their souis will perish for want of spiritual food.