THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 56, 9 March 1881, Page 3

THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

The proceedings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in connection with tho present annual session were opened at Sb. John's Church, Willis-street, Jast night, by the Rev. J. Macnicol, of Auckland, Moderator, who preached a sermon suitable to tho occasion. The Bey. J. Ross, of Turakina, was eleoted to the Moderatorship for the ensuing year, and an address having been delivered by him, a deputation, representing the Church of Otago, was introduced, after whioh the usual sessional committees were appointed, and the Assembly adjourned till this afternoon at 2 o'clook. The sittings during the present meeting will oommence at 2 p.m. daily, and extend till 10 p.m., an adjournment being made from 5 till 7 o'clock for tea. After thanking the Assembly for the honor conferred upon him, the newly-elected Moderator delivered an address on what he termed the present aspects of the world and the church, followed by a glimpse of their relation to each other. He dwelt particularly on the intonse activity manifested throughout the world at the present time— an activity which, he said, manifested itself in great restlessness of thought and action. He alluded io the immense progress made during the present oentury both from a material and spiritual point of view, pointing out that the heralds of civilisation and Christianity could now go right round the world in a much shorter time than could have been achieved by the messengers of Caesar and the apostle Paul in former day. To such a degree had men brought nature under their dominion that the three score and ten years of man's life might now be said to be equal to the life of an antediluvian. But amidst all the prosperity and success with which man sought after his material well-being, there was a restlessness of mind and a discontentment with his lot whioh, in a measure, resembled that of the sage who said " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." The reason of this was undoubtedly that man looked too much earthward and too little heavenward. The region in which the most intense activity was manifested was the world of thought. This was due to the immense progress made in science, in one department of which — that of physical science — such progress had been made that for the time being it seemed as if it would either swallow up or ignore all other sources o£ knowledge. Me"'s minds were stirred to much the same degree of activity as were the minds of Franco, when, previous to the French revolution, the salons of Paris were filled with enthusiastic audiences, eagerly listening to the utterances of the men of science of that age. This activity of mind was not a tiling either to be deplored or deprecated, but, on the contrary, was a thing to be rejoiced at, inasmuch as when tho mind began to be stirred by a truth, and a truth was lodged in the mind, that truth was a rock ou which the recipient might build for ever. True, he might build thereon wood, hay, or stubble, or might call the imagination to his assistance, but tho fire that was sure to follow would speedily test the work ; he would suffer loss no doubt, but the rook remained for him or someone else to build on in the future. It was "not, however, benefit alone which arose from this activity. More or leas of a loss of true mental as well as spiritual enprgy naturally followed. As a caso in point, he referred to the source to which for the past hundred yeaTS it was thought scientific to ascribe the origin of religion— viz., fetishism. That idol had recently been dashed to pieces by tho iconoclast Max Muller. Again, in biology we had been entertained with a promise of the immense gulf which lay between matter and life being bridged over. Professor Huxley announced this as a fact, and proclaimed it in what he baptised " bathybius." Its title was challenged, and it was found to bo in reality plaster of paris, and now that /etish had sunk like lead in the mighty waters. However, it was only necessary to wait patiently till man's mental and moral region had been as thoroughly and scientifically dealt with as the physical. The rev. gentleman concluded by exhorting the Church to keep herself well abreast of all that was to be gleaned from every field of knowledge in addition to the Word of the living God.