CHRISTCHURCH YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XX, Issue 1112, 8 July 1863, Page 4

CHRISTCHURCH YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

The Young Men's Christian Association was addressed by the Rev. Charles Eraser, in the Wesleyan Schoolroom, on the evening of Friday, the 26th ultimo. Subject: " The Book of Genesis'."

Mr. Frasek, in introducing the subject for the evening's lecture, stated that he considered it a powerful evidence to the truth of the Christian revelation that so many grave topics of discussion and so many of the freshest and most important contributions to literature and science in this progressive age, have a direct connection with and bearing upon that, the oldest book of our sacred volume. It was not his present purpose to mett all the different objections of sceptics, but to claim a value for the book intellectually. He entertained a high estimate of the character of a well-informed Christian, who, having a faith not to be lightlv shaken, gave a candid and fearless, yet not hasty reception to all scientific truths. With regard to the literary character of the book, the lecturer said its language was most correct, idiomatic, pure ami precisely grammatical Hebrew. He claimed that for this book only; for the language degenerates in the after books. As a comparison : as if they began the knowledge of Greek literature with Thucydides and Plato, and of Latin, with Cicero and Livy. The nation advanced and prospered in other respects; but in language they went back. For as the religion of the New Testament grew strong with the downfall of the Roman Empire: so the religion of the Old Testament became clearer and fuller with the degeneracy of the language in which it was communicated. David. Isaiah and Daniel spoke a language less pure than Moses. He (Moses) stands forth as the flower of an ancient civilization, which gradually decreased and died out as another and higher developed itself in Greece and Rome. The rev. gentleman, at considerable length, went into the question of how far Moses employed earlier documents, stating that there was evidence to show that he had used the information supplied by earlier historians, such as Adam, Methuselah, Shem, Isaac, &c. These were to be distinguished by the different names applied to God, Elohim and Jehovah, and by the introduction of various genealogical tables. And as Luke wrote the Gospel of St. Luke mainly from the accounts of others, as shown in the mode of his genealogical table, so Moses, guided by the Spirit of God, wrote for our learning a book based upon earlier and authentic documents. The lecturer, after referring to the Elle Toledoth. and the migration of Abraham, and his probable acquirement of this knowledge of Jehovah, said, with regard to the chronology of the book it ought to be greatly extended in the age before the flood and thence to Abraham. The subjects of the book were—lst, Creation out of chaos, concerning which he would state that geology had not yet perfected her own scheme to compare it with the Word. He mentioned Hugh Miller's view of the characteristics of the different formations as harmonizing with the days. 2nd, Creation of man. This subject he could merely point at. He referred to the gorilla controversy of Owen and Huxley. A distinguished French naturalist placed man in a kingdom by himself; whilst Darwin's theory, containing one principle, was still modified by others equally powerful. According to it, the Australian and Tasmanian natives should have developed into a high order of being. The Maori of New Zealand seem to have adopted his view, however, by arranging that the stronger should eat up the weak. These theories must be met with a theory of degeneration, for the human species did not change; for instance, the vast age claimed for Egyptian history shows that the species were unchauged. 3rd, Unity of the Human Race. Hiere was one Bible question against this. W here did the people come from whom Cain was afraid to meet' He would refer also to Genesis, 6th chap. rhi» book gave no countenance to the argument in i':| Vl - ir of Slavery. Man's status depended not on relationship, but upon the faculties of serving God ana being happy. The negro was immortal, and as capable of enjoying God as a white man; and as Christians they ought not to be enslaved. lh;jt mankind were one race was the language of science as well as of theology. 4th, Antiquity of Man. He referred to the remains found in certain formations; quoted (Charles Lyell's new work) burials, falling of a cliff, a landslip, death in a bog or morass, as illustrations of how human remains may be touni in earlier formations. The reverend gentleman next in speaking, sth, of the Fall, 6th, Antidiluvuiis. and 7 th, the Deluge, proceeded to show clearly ana distinctly that there was much to challenge our regard in the state of innocence, God's direct communication with man. The power of language; the naming of the beasts were in strict keeping witn the philosophy of language. He stated that it was thus easy to trace man's rising from asa\.ig<to a higher state, or his degeneracy from ' l higher to a lower. He referred to man s dominion over the brutes, and that strange nervous l ,()we F °, one man over another, the result of perfect I'h.y health. He referred also to the ancient Swiss lay and their population of beaver-like savages: the tumuli of Central America. Under lus Stii, .hi . and 10th heads, the lecturer mentioned Ethnoiog (the origin of nations). History took its from the tenth chapter of Genesis. Many Ils coveries had been made of ancient cities mentions there and no where else. Through Layard s ex . L,n ' tions of Nineveh much had been discovered in My able illustration and confirmation of Seriptuie. h nothing opposed to it. He next touched on con parative Philology, mentioning Babel and the ci » of the plain in illustration, proving the hannonvi Scripture. The 11th head referred to the Eg}P ' portion of its history. As the earlier clinprerbrought us into acquaintance with briefer recon s more ancient nations, so in the later cnapte:rs have a fuller and more particular account oi < nation, whose records and written history the most remote portion of antu l l ' •' That knowledge was not so certain or so "I 1 as to enable us exactly to compare the sacred ; with the profane; but the gradual " lcre^® L certainty only brought increased proofs ot liarn with this book. The lecturer then, i" ref " tilt ,) d many arguments advanced against this booK, * how light had been thrown on the subject trom , discovery of buried writings in the 1'} lanm all in favor of the accounts of the history and * of Moses, 2400 before Christ. The rev. gentle . said, as regarded the religious character and Ie-_ of this book, it stood apart from all other hi* ; It was not national, patriotic, nor even studio

•nipartial, but it was a plain history of God's dealings with n icn ' 11101111 s umler llis c >'°> an(l ever showing man's weakness and short-comings. It was therefore suitable for the study of the young people of the present (lav. Finally, with reference to its connection witli the rest of the Scripture, the rev. lecturer filled the attention of his hearers to the striking Jrtrmony and contrast between this book and the Revelations :— In the beginning God created the heavens and earth: Revelations referred to new heavens and a new earth. The first earth for the first Adam: the new dispensation for the second Ulani. The old law was the shadow of good things to eonie: whilst the new world was the better hope of believers. He showed the connection betwixt the first tree of life and the new river of life; that as the first. Paradise passed away and vanished from our gaze—the curse fell upon man: so in the new dispensation the curse had passed away. Man's first (lavs were passed in Paradise: now his days were spent in cities. It had been erroneously said that God made the country and man the town—as if God was better served in the country than the town. The rev. gentleman thought the higher life was that of the citv —more intellectual, more social, and more refined. And thus as man passed from the country to the city, and thereby advanced in civilization: so he trusted would all go on progressing in the knowledge of God, to fit them for dwelling in the Kew Jerusalem—the City of the Great King. With a few earnest practical remarks, Mr. Fraser concluded this able and interesting lecture, which was listened to throughout with the greatest apparent interest and attention.