SUNDAY EVENING ADDRESSES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 128, 1 June 1891, Page 4

SUNDAY EVENING ADDRESSES.

- RELIGION AS INTERPRETED BY „w*. •■ *V' • OHBIBT. "'■ '. ' " \ ■-row- ; i The following are extracts from the address 'delivered in the Theatre by the Bey. Thomas Bray UfSt night, when the ohair was taken ; - • by . the , Bey. F. , j W> Isito » an^ . [there > wore also on , the ; platform the Revs, : F. W. ' Ohatterton and 0. Mm;ray: — The Bey. Mr Ohatterton olosed his '•• able and interesting lecture on "The Plaoopf the pOld Testament in Religion," with these words, "It is thus that me* in every age have learnt the place this literature ocoupiea in religion, whioh to put it in one final sentence, was this, to prepare the world for Christ," whioh statement I most oordially endorse. To night lam here to ahow you as best I oan, " Religion as interpreted by Christ." Need I say that everywhere and in all ages men have been haunted with the idea of God, and in one fashion or another have sought after Him. arid hare had this notion and that notion abont God, and suoh notions thbt have sooner or later proved very unsatisf aotory and false* bo muoh so, that many men give np thi Attempt altogether to try And find Himi This is, as many of you know, Agnoatioiamj Whiob signi&ea simply, not knowing. The, Agnoatlo takes on a more modest namothaa. Atheiab, it suits him better. But let the, Agnoswo aay what he will* I submit that it) is an imperishable neoeeßity of our very, nature to know God. We must know Him; Bnfc we cannot; know God unless he reveab) himielf tons. The Agnostio ie right in bo far as that he himself oannofc of himself get to know God. "Canst thou by searohing find out God I Canst thou nnd out the; Almighty unto perfection? It is high afl heaven ; what canst thou do 1 Deeper than, Bheol ; what canst thou know 1 The measure , thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea," Unless God reveals Him* self, Agnostioism must remain a permanent veriiob. But, if there is in us this instinot, this want to' know him, He iB onr Creator^ And surely: He will take pains to satisfy that yearning of the human heart. If God ia Sis love for ilia human creatures, shaU ' oause to dome from the eternal unsearchable! tbysemal depths of Godhead a manifestation of Himself, a perfect representative of Deity. U, His other self, how shall He introduce this manifestation of Him-i self to the attention of men! If God; is to reveal himself to man, it must be by a ooming down to the human sphere j , And human terms must be used, and human words employed, And suoh has been the OA*4. Clear and d|stinot; to human ears the! volw from heaven deolaied again and again! \*ftata I» my .beloved Son, hear ye Him.'] Tea, And if we will listen to Him, He will . meal and interpret God to us. And would, we know to what extent testimony to the, character of God is needed? Than look not art the God of Christendom, or the God of 1 Ohrißt ; bnt look at the gods of the GferisW less heathen world, the gods of the vast majority of the human raoe since Adam fell) think of Typhon, Baal, Aihtoreth, Moloob, And suoh like, i "Yindiotive, passionate, unjust, Whose attributes aie hate and lust," Eliminate from Christendom its conception ,of God as contoured by Christianity or the doctrine of the incarnation, and what kind 6ti god have we left? let the «61d dead god of the pantheist reply. Verily a teßtH zaony to God, a testimony broad, deep, and Strong w&s needed, And Christ in His life, •And Seeds, and words on eartb, meets that rid, , He bears that needed testimony, He is who reveals to us the Fatherhood of God. , JUet us for a few momenta look at the "Hebrew oonoeption of God, and oomparo it with Christ's interpretation of Himj Their own kings had been their models of, kiflglinwi, sod it W»b only Bataral in think.; ing of the King of All the earth they should Invest Him with the ebaraoterUtios oi the! kings they had known and had dealings with.; But a king in those d»jß was nothing U not' A warrior. He might fall very short of a high Bt»odard of royalty in a hundred ways, but if in time of war he shrank to lead bis armieß to battle, that was the end of him, bif JJubjeots were qoit of him, tue bond of loyalty was broken, Hence the oonoeption of God as the "Lord God ol Babbaota or floats," so. overtopped and belittled every other oon« caption or any other thought of Him, that when the prophets and bards spoke of Him, •I now and then they did under the simili-. i lade of a Father or a Shepherd, it was an unfamiliar and almost an unwelcome strain. And was lost like. a Bweet delioato note of aauaio overwhelmed and Bmotb.er.ed in a discordant clash of inßtromen ts. Snob say* ings as '/The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," were said almost with bated, fereatb, or auog in subdned tones. But with) daiicn vplc« they would have the siuger ■hooU ?,"J3ipg ye totbe Lord for He hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his. rld«r hatb He thrown into the sea. " Shoot; ft.oijtye eingere, let the welkin ring again witk your song of triumph. " Tho Lot d was . A mao of war; the 'Lord is Hla same." Briefly Btated such was very \fttgely the Hebrew oonoeption of God. Need i say how 'completely Christ reversed this, i.e., what had been in, the background He took, pains to bring out in tbe clearest light ; what before had almoJt filled they eye by its prominenoe, He threw into comparative shadow. •Philip said to Christ on one occasion, 11 Bhow ns the Father and it will satisfy us," Teg, and multitudes have again and again echoed those words. And the answer Ohrißt gave is as complete for us »b it was Xor Philip. " Have I been so long time with; you, ana yet hast thou not known me Philip? 1 ' Have I gone in and out among you these months and years, talking with you. living betore you, feeding the hungry, healing tbe siok, raising the dead, casting, out devils, comforting those in sorrow, tak- , ing np little children and blessing them. And dost thou not yet know the meaning of me J "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also," Living as Idoin a Christian laud, where the gospel of the incarnation is preaohed, and being myself, aB I humbly truant 6 Christian, I recognise and know no ' other God but the God of Christ, believing M £ doi that when devout men saw Christ ■tzead the Temple steps, or thread his way through the orowded streets, or tread the - shores of the Galilean Sea. they could pro* rtrande a namo in whioh there ia light, and. •' an undying hope for humanity. 'Immanuel, God with ua.' What 1b Christ's interpretation of the forgiveness of sin ? All along the ages the ory has been, " How shall man be just with God ? " How Bhall Ibe rid of my guilt? How can I make my peace with God? How is it possible for me to appeaeo the anger of Him whose law I have trans* greased a thousand times? How did Christ interpret religion as it takes on the forgive* ness of injuries? This question was put to Him. "How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him, until seven times? Christ turned to him and said, •' No, not until Beven times ; but until seventy times seven." Not as I understand Christ ' that we are to forgive our brother 490 times And refuse him forgiveness the 491 st time, but that we are not to place limit on our "forgiveness. There are many persons exoeßßively particular about the letter of the oommandment. They lovo to have their duty marked out to a hair's breadth, Peter oould understand forgiving his brother up to * certain number of times, "Until seven times Lord ? " And suppose Christ had said "Yes Peter, you qaa forgive up to seven times," Then woe betide Peter's brother when -it came to the eighth time. Peter would count* the number of offences, and how stern and hard the very precept to forgive would have made him. "No, 1 he would .have said, " I have forgiven you seven times, I have fulfilled the law ; my confidence is natisfied ; now I shall requite you in full the wrong you do me." But Christ refused to lay down a literal and exact oommandment. He came to raise up flis Kingdom in men's hearts, and he wished forgiveness to be a matter of the heart. . How. did Ohrißt interpret religion as it takes on neighbourliness 7 One day this question was put to Him, " Who is my neighbour 1" And in reply Christ gave that almost inimitable parable, called the " Parable of the good Samaritan." The pioture is this, a wounded man in the bloody way, as it was oalled, not an uncommon occurrence. There too, the men from whom help in suoh an emergency might very naturally be ex-, peoted, but from whom alas it will not be may also be met with. Priest And Levite punctually attending to their ' reliffipna duties according to law and oustom, ; -'but deaf to the call of charity. They passed, by on the other Bide, leaving behind them ( neither deed nor word of mercy, but leaving, behind them a shadow of themselves whioh while time lasts, will be vivid, cold, And repelling, But tbe man belonging to a. ■- lonely And pbsoure race, has a big heart. It slakes no difference to him that the fallen mas is of an an alien race. ' He it a man, and that is enough j he is down and must be; .raised vp } he ia in nead and must be helped. .Let n» l^ok at Christ's interpretation of the religious hope of the future.. Need I say; , that Christ interpreted eternity, and tbe things of eternity in a new light 7 He caiae forward with these wonderful words upon His lips, "Whosoever iiveth and believeth in Me shall never die." Suoh •words hod a strange, wonderful effect npoa .tnen'a minds. In a life of which death was /to bo the assured end, there could be nothing ♦specially worth living for : and accordingly e there was every reason why the worthlesß- • M6O attributed to life should become tho rQVarMtjttisUtof those who were living out Jiffc . The new hope brought into the world made life worth living then, and has kept it ' 'WorS^UTfig evw 8)noe f The.late H. W. ''Jwher BAys; This thought of watiu^

life, Immortal life, underlies all modern religions j and 16 ia associated with our noblest ideas. There have been thoat wko dMeorated heaven by ©arryinr tkeir lusts and their passions into it— barbarians, who thoufht it would be a place of nnlvmal wassail, where th« meat would never site out, and the wbw would flow for ever. Th> houris, and the very eenanoua enjoymeais of Mohammedans have been piotured in the heavens. The Indian makes heaven & vidtor{ous hunting-ground. . And there the things that have been the noblest inspirations and ambitions on earth are to have a full fruition." Does anyone in (bis Theatre 10-nighi divest himself or try to do so, of all thought of thp future life 1 U bo, listen to ibis: Why shoulfl you want to disenchant yourselves of thip belief in a oontipued and glorified existence after death? Has it ever done you any harm ? Has it aver limited your Ambition ? Has ii ever taken away from you one pleasure, Taking it away would be like dismantling a oastle, and moving all the furniture ; like ripping up and oarrjiog away all the o&ipets t like tearing down all the festoons and draperiea; like taking from the walla all the pioturea and removing all tho statues ; Ilk* putting out the fires in the range and in every chamber ; like, stripping the honae from tori to bottom, of everything in it, not exqeptioi your mother's ooaob, the vqry cradle in whicfl your brothers and sisters were laid, and iq whioh your own child, it may be, was rooked : like taking oat everytbipg, leaving the apartj ments empty and the castle solitary. And what have you gained 1 Perhaps you did not like the style of architecture. But what nave you gained by turning that sumptuous palace into a miserable, dank, ohilly oave ? What would yon gain if you could, by some aoientiflo prooess, prove that there was no' future of immortality that oould be reduoed to the measure by whioh you Judge of; material things? What is there that ia, tender that doea not long for tho other Ufa ? What man is worthy to oall himself a man! who does not carry deep within him thd spring of immortality, ana who does not say,' "My life has been so imperfeot, so incomplete, that I mußt build Bgain. I mnst live above the earth on wbioh I tread?" Every; analogy, as well as every hope, points that way. Why should I disenchant myself? Will it make the night lighter ? Will it m»M burdens easier? Will ii take awi\> a.- ylLiujj from the griefs of life ? Believe that you are of mote worth than a dog. Believe that you are not like a rotting daisy or dahlia. Be* lieve that, you are a Bon of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ, born for on eternal inheritance ; that you one day shall be lifted np ; that, glorified, you shall stand among prophets, among the old paalmists ana swe«.t singers of Israel j that all the nob.ss of the dnlverio, the spirits of Just man made perfect, shall be your daily and liuuiiiai oooapanioßS, ;