HAMILWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Waikato Argus, Volume II, Issue 135, 18 May 1897, Page 2

HAMILWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

On Sunday morning the Rev. Thcs. Scott, M.A., ot Cambridge, occupied the pulpit in the above church. There was a good congregation, and the rev. gentleman preached a forcible sermon from the words: "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Cod, am? . . Whom do yc say that I am ?" In the evening the Rev. J. M. Mitchell delivered the first of a course of sermons to young men, the title being "The Question of a Great Doubter,' and the text was taken from Matthew XI. 2to 5. He remarked that when such an one ns John the Baptist had doubted the Mcssiahship of Christ —the fundamental principle of the Christ-an religion—it should not bo matter for astonishment that there were doubters iu the present day. The Church did not blame anyone for honest doubt ; it was only the narrow Pharisee and the hypocrite who did that. The Church sympathised with them in their difficulty, and was ever ready to assist them to brush aside their doubts and to become firmly grounded upon the Rock of Ages. At the same time an honest doubter never paraded his doubt. He did not glory in proclaiming himself a sceptic, an athiesfc, or an infidel; it was only " poor fools, whose heads were as empty as a tin whistle," who did that. If any were in doubt he advised them to take their Bibles, and carefully and prayer, fully read the four gospels through at one sitting. They should think the matter out for themselves, and not mind what any commentators had to say, either for or against religion ; above all, it would be well for them to avo'd such writers as Ingersoll, Bradlaugh, Strauss and Fenan. Instances were recorded in history where men who intended to write against Christianity had, in order to do so fairly, begun to read the Bible, with the result that instead of writing against they had penned an eloquent defence of it. Christianity possessed the power to raise men above themselves ; it could take a man out of the gutter and make him a respectable member of society, and this was the great difference between it and other religions. ChrUt'auity supplied the teaching with the power to follow it ; the oihers supplied the precept alone. The Church admitted that Mahomet, I'.uddha, Confucius, and other teachers were in a measure divinely inspired, but at best they were only feeble lights. The preacher concluded a forcible address with an earnest appeal to all to follow the example of John the Baptist and when in doubt go straight to Chiist. Next Sunday Mr Mitchell will deliver the second address of the series, entitled " The Question of a Good Young Man."