PRINCIPAL RAINY AT THE CHORAL HALL. " PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF THE WORLD." Auckland, September 9.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 402, 14 September 1889, Page 4

PRINCIPAL RAINY AT THE CHORAL HALL. " PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF THE WORLD." Auckland, September 9.

The Rev. Principal Rainy, D.D., of Edinburgh, made bis second public appearance in Auckland last evening, when he addressed a well-attended meeting in the Choral Hall, Symonds-street, taking as the subject of his lecture " The Presbyterian Churches of the World." The Rev. John Macky presided, and a number of members of the Auckland Presbytery occupied seats on the platform, including the Revs. R. F. Macnicol, Gr. B. Monro, McKinney, Robertson, R. Scott West, Sommerville, Comrie, Steele, A. Carrick. A number of St. Andrew's Church choir and friends wete present, and under the superintendence of Mr Culpan, rendered musical aid during: the evening. The proceedings opened with the singing of a hymn by the choir. Principal Rainy in opening said he had found, out that there was a great tendency to associate Presbyterianism with Scotland and the North of Ireland, but the faith was by no means exclusively f Scottish. Presbyterianism was the form ot church life and work which had bsen adopted nearly unanimously by one great section of European churches of the Reformation. He referred to the heroic little church of the Waldenses, and then went oh to speak of the country in which the Presbyterian churches had their origin, Switzerland. In Switzerland the churches seemed to manifest a knowledge of the importance of retaining their independence, and the result of this was the production of some of the sturdiest upholders of truth in Europe. These sturdy yeomen of Switzerland had embraced the views and adopted the religious ideas of the leaders of the Reformation, and this little country was the centre of pure Protestantism. The country produced during a certain period some of the leading lights of liberty and religious thought in Europe. Dr. Rainy enumerated some of thB great Swiss leaders of the reformed religion, and referred to their great work. Although each Swiss church, like the cantons, was independent of the others, still their general lines of feeling and worship were unanimous. The next churches he would refer to were those of Holland, a country in physical contour the very antithesis of rugged Switzerland. The Hollanders also received the Reformation like Switzerland, and in the Low Countries there were men who suffered nobly for the pure reformed faith. Like Swiss churches, those of Holland had each a marked independence and distinctness, but still they might be said to have been rather more closely united in their main features than the former. Holland had in days past to contend with the might of Spain, then the great Power of Europe, for Spain was at the time of the Reformation the strongest upholder of the Roman Catholic faith. The terrible struggles for liberty in religion and politics in which Holland engaged with Spain, testified to the sterling independence and heroism of the Hollanders", and their love of tolerance. He next spoke of the Reformed Church of France, a church in which he took very great interest from its character and the great leaders connected with ifc in its troublous past. In the French character, too often regarded as frivolous and flippant, there was a capacity for singular earnestness and lofty aims and work. He referred r.o the past history of the French Protestant Church, to the Huguenot Bourbon family, with Henry of Navarre and other noblesse who cast in their lot with the reformed Church, and to the merciless civil wars which raged between the Huguenots and the upholders of Rome. He spoke of the persecutions to which the early Protestants were subjected, which at last led to a general flight of Huguenots Irom France to England and other countries more tolerant than France. A great part of the manufactures and commerce in Fiance were in the hands of the Prote&tants when the crash of persecution fell upon them, and scattered them in all directionsoutof their own country. The next church he should speak of ought to be Scotland, but he would not say anything about it beyond the fact that it had 3,000 congregations, for, as all knew, when a Scotchman started to dilate on Scotch institutions, there was no stopping him. The Reformed Church of Bohemia, which had passed through very many vicissitudes and storms of persecution, was spoken of, and also the Reformed Church of Hungary, which possessed some 3,000 congregations. Many of these Hungai'ian ministers had received their college education in Edinburgh. Coming to England, Principal Rainy spoke of the history of the Presbytorian Church in England, and the struggles of Noncomformists for religious life and liberty in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was at a comparatively recent age that the Presbyterian Church had been established in England ; but although it was a small church, it was an important and honourable one. The Presbyterianism of Ireland was, inter alia, referred to, and Principal Rainy paid a tribute to the earnestness and vigour with which Irish Presbyterians in times past upheld the name of their faith and its aims. Speaking of Methodism in England, he said that, taken in all, Methodism there could be considered as a branch of : Presbyterianism. Crossing the Atlantic to Canada, he characterised Church of Canada as one of which" any of its sister Presbyterian Churches might be proud. Church . of the United States was very strong, and altogether must number some 12,000 congregations worshipping after the Presbyterian faith. The churches at the Cape and in South Africa were based, he said, somewhat on the old Dutch lines, sturdy and independent. He briefly referred to the Australian and New Zealand churches, and said he wished he bad seen more of them before this. In concluding, Principal Rainy said that the moral to be drawn from his remarks was that Presbyterians ought to feel and understand that Presbyterianism has occupied a large place in the history of the Christian churches, and that it is not to be regarded as a mere Scotch peculiarity of religion. Presbyterians should realise the extent of the work done in generations past by their fellow-religionists, and should strive likewise to elevate, to Christianise, to ennoble whatever , might, be in some measure subject to deterioration and decay. In the Church the important question was, what lay below the form of Presbyterian worship and the work and life of the Christian Church. It was ,well that they should benefit by the recollection of grand names in the past, names of men who had stood up nobly for the liberties of the Church, and they should strive to emulate them in their work. Quite as good and faithful work could . be done in generations to come as had been performed in days past by labourers in the Church. At the close of his- interestit q lecture Dv Rainy was accorded a very cordial vote of thanks b'y acclamation, on the motion of the Rev. Carrick. A collection was taken up in aid of the Church Extension Fund. •

■ The Chairman announced that on Sunday afternoon Dr. Rainy would preach in the City Hall at 3 o'clock. The meeting closed with the singing of the Doxology.