LECTURE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1498, 12 October 1886, Page 3

LECTURE.

Lait Sunday being the second Snndty in the month the Bev. G. Barolay delivered his monthly lecture in the Good Templar Hall. The Hall was crowded. The rev. gentleman took for his text the same portion cf Scripture that eonstiuted his text on the occasion of hie last lecture, viz : " And tboy were the ruin of him and of all Israel." 11. Chron. xxviii., 83. Mr Barolay briefly reminded bis hearers , of the events recorded in the body of the chapter, of bow Ahab, King of Lrael, in the blindness of bis heart, had given himself up to vice, had defied God, and given himself over to the worship of idols, and this the ' sabred writer told them, became the came of his ruin : his ruin not merely in a reversal of worldly oiroumstanees, but he became a Koral ruin, » moral shipwreck. The lecturer ' then went on'.to speak of one or two instances which he had given of men in later days who had become moral rains simply by yielding too easily to the promptings of a lower nature within; and the stepping aside from the paths of strict honesty and impartial ways of integrity and truth. Such men as Wolsey, the great <»•• nal, and Warren Hasting?, the' onoe U.vjrnor-General of India, were striking; examples which he had quoted at his .last! lecture. He proceeded to review the circumstances conneeted with the seizure of

Naboth's vineyard by the wicked king Ahab, and pointed out that the two men—the sons - of Belial—who falsely swore to the twofold charge of blasphemy and treason against Naboth, were left on record as instances of the moral ;ruin attending the departure from the strict ways of truth and rectitude. And in the greatest trial on record, where the un- , righteousness of man confronted the righteousness of God, where we see the acquittal of Barrabas and the condemning of Christ, the wicked and oulpable judge, Pontius Pilate, had to confess in the long run, owing to the working of bis conscience, that Christ wasinnocent. And yet, yielding to the instincts of his lower n&ture, yielding to the fear that he might be accused at Borne of conniving at insarreotion in his territory he became an instance of moral ruin. Mr Barolap stated that be could go on to give a great many instances of a similar character, but he would dwell upon one or two, of more recent date, in dotail. He supposed that -. most of bis hearers had heard of the infamous Judge Jeffries. He thought there could be but one opinion'as to this man's cleverness and attainments. It was not his intellect, but his"heart that' was Wrong. Mr Barolay briefly ,< sketched the rapid rise of Jeffries from being an advocate in the Old Bailey to that of , Common Sergeant-at-arms, and finally Lord Chancellor of England. He reviewed the career of crime and corruption carried on by ■;■ Jjffriet- for 20 years. His levying of vmt sums, of money to be paid to James 11. which that king was not entitled to. But it was when the Puritans came before him, those

people whom Jeffries persisted in calling Presbyterians, that the Judge b rage knew no bounds.- Ihe prosecution of Bichard Baxter, for giving utterance to what was the peoples common right, and the unscrupulousneas of the Jadge in condemning him to prison with the adtion of a fine of £SOO, was dwelt upon at

tome length. The Bloody Assize, too, with its court hung with scarlet and its butoberits of men and women, where 292 out of 300

persons : arraigned were sentenced to death—some, at the gibbet; and others at the stake—- : and its 800 prisoners banished into exile, were also vividly brought before the audience. > The ultimate fall of Jeffries, his being accused of wholesale bribery, .his acts while skulking in a low. public-house at Wapping with his .bushy eyebrows shaven off and disguised in a coal-heaver's dusty coat, and, his miserable end, were all briefly touched upon, and he was held upas another striking example of moral ruiD,'" Another illustration, but one which the lecturer had some diffidenoe in quoting, as the person referred to was a man of marvellous gifts and attainments —a man who was great as a philsopher, one of the greatest men who ever lived—a man who left on record with his own p*n the most indubitable maxims end aphorisms on questions of morality and religion. This »an was Lord Bacon, a man who in the early

years af bis life was held in high honor, and wsß made much of in Court, in Castle, and in Parliament. But by-and-bv the reverse came, and Bacon, from the high pinnacle of honor and fame, was dashed down to the very, dust. For some time Bacon had had enemies, who had kept a strict watch on him. The Courts be ruled over finally came to ke suspected, and Bacon was convicted of having far year's been in tho habit of acoepting large sums of menev from persons of influence who were;to appear in; Court, with a view of swaying bis' judgment-.' r J here was no defence, and Bacon was sent to the Tower and fined a sum of £40,000. True, he was a man of wonderful attainments; bis literature lives in the literature of the world, and his philosophy is loved ; but as he came before us in history he was fitting illustration of the text —that a man too easily bending to certain corrupt tendencies in his nature becomes a moral shipwreck. Mr Barclay pointed out that the : lessens to be learned from these

examples were to know the wickedness of our ,'bwn natures, and corruptness of heart, and in contrast to Judge Jeffries or lord Bacon however, high and honorable at one time they might hare been—to be true and straightforward, honest, and impartial j to J trust less to our own strength-and judgment and more to God's—to Him who coald sustain and keep us, who jcouldkeep us from falling and present us faultless before Hib Father with exceeding

joy. Mr;B»rclay also pointed out that moral ruin was often caused by sudden sooial elevation and unwonted worldly prosperity '*'"'"mail|i ' head: '',was often turned—he launched out .into pride and . luxury and forgot God. The rev. gentleman gave a large number of instances where this had been tbj» case. He did not know how far such a principle of moral ruin was at work in this colony of New Zealand. He would not like to say .to what extent this is a source ■of spostacy from God and unfaithfulness to .Him. He,' knew, however, that there were tome people who said that the Australasian colonies were all too rich in examples of this kind. They told them that the shepherd of to-day became the squatter of to-morrow. That the man who occupied the position of a ■ domestic servant at Home was now a man of yropery and his own master, that the man wh«| a short time ago was in the humblest of circumstances was now in a position of rank and influence. What were the results ? He trusted God in many cases that the results were genuine humility, and an increased ' gtnerosity to every good cause, and a stronger love for God and religion. For his ~ own part'lie know of some examples of this. The world had' grown" upon tbem but the Church and God bad also done the same, and as God had blessed them tbeir hearts had become more humble. But then there were ex-amples-that were just the opposite : where the sudden acquisition of wealth had produced ronly pride. Men cut their acquaintance:! and gave up their neighbors and would hardly speak or acknowledge them on the ether side of tbe street. The rev. gentleman strongly urged upon his bearers to take these to heart and as God bad prospered tbem, let tbem show the genuineness of their religion and spirit of devotijn by an ! " inviolabli attachment to all that was good and trim