PERIPATETIC EVANGELISTS.

Evening Star, Issue 8771, 11 March 1892, Page 4

PERIPATETIC EVANGELISTS.

10 THK KDITOB. .Sir,—The Rev. Mr Grubb is conducting, at his own charges, a gospel mission in the Garrison Hall. I heard his first sermon on 'Regeneration.' He is a young Anglican minister of good presence, devout aspect, and rf clear articulation. He is also a man of culture and enthusiasm. There is an utter absence of conventionalism and vulgarism in his modo of delivery. He steers a middle course between fanaticism and formalism. He is a collcquial speaker and a dramatic preacher. His action is graceful and hie exposition 13 scholarly. He is intensely practical in hia illustrations, and, indeed, the very personification of personal piety, He is not deficient in refined humor. He givsß quiet and stinging hits at the coldness and bigotry of the different churches. He is not only a nominal, but a real Christian. He gave a realistic (Jjture of a believer who ia imbued with the Spirit of Christ and practises righteousness, holinuos, love, and all the graces involved in, and flowing the gif; of eternal life, infused into the heart by the operation and saving influences of the Holy Spirit. He accepts Christ as his anointed prophet to teach him—as his priest to atone for his urns, and as his king to rule over his thoughts, words, and actions. Verily, this ia real preaching, such as we seldom if ever meet with in the churches. Altogether, be is the most instructive teacher I have ever lictened to in Dunedin. Were he to take np his abade here life would be infused into the dry bones of Anglicanism, and we should soon see the spire of St. Paul's rising high above the First Church, His sermon was a happy mixture of simplicity, sincerity, and sublimity—not unlike to, but far rnoro refined than, the preacher iu the tent by the Leith.

Mr Edwards preached on the same topic, and handled it ably. He haa, however, too much "ehiDg" for a polite auditory. He carries his church with him. It is in the form of an umbrella, lined with crimson cloth, and seated comfortably seated—fir one thousand people. It is nightly crowded by earnest hearers. There jb a plank below your feet, and backs to the pews ; also a platform, table, and desk, with three large lamps suspended from the roof. The preacher is a young man, and a fluent, if rather fi'ppanr, speaker. He is evidently earnesr,and is a plain expounder of the plan of salvation, He does not argue with the infidel as to the truth of the Bible, for the Bible proves its own divinity. By looking into it we see, as iu a glass, our own Bins, and, by God's grace, may wash away our transgressions in the atonement, and become transformed in our character into grace and final glory, which is the viotory of saving faith, which overcometh the world's wicked ways. Mr Edwards preaches the Gospel literally without money and without price. Our ministers and bishops should go and hear these young evangelists, rub off their angularities, shake off their bigotry, and take a lesson in charity, and then we should tee the professed followers of Chrht knit together in one fraternal bond of love and fellowship of mind. Sectarianism would die away in the warm sunshine of Christian faith, hope, and love. Theae evangelists evince their sincerity beyond doubt. Verily they are " living epistles seen, and read of all men." They richly merit praise, honor, and commendation from men; aDd we may confidently hope that God will abundantly bless and reward thair disinterested services in His cauee. Holy writ will aseuro them that their "labor shall not be in vain in the Lord."—l am, etc., J. G. S. Grant.

Duncdin, March 11