PANTHEISM VERSUS PRESBY. TERIANISM. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6897, 25 March 1884, Page 4

PANTHEISM VERSUS PRESBY. TERIANISM. TO THE EDITOR.

Sat,— Having only recnntly arrived in Dunedin from Melbourne, I was surprised^ and pained to find that the shallow Agnosticism which permeates the Presbyterian Church in Victoria is also poisoning tho fountain of Christianity in OUgo. Tv me it scorns inexplicable that a city founded by men who wure imbued with the puro spirit of the Gospel, and burning with zeal lor tho religion of our noblo-hearted Scottish reformoi—John Knox—shpuld now be the centre of so-called Freathoug'ht. But it is not with tho superficial cant of the Lyceum that I have £it present to deal, but with tho taint of heresy which is to be found vvilhin the fold of tho faithfnl. On viating a friend's house a few days since, a volume of poems written by Mr thonm JSracken was placed in my hands; and a glance through the pages of the book convinced me that, however meritorious tho contents might be, there was a strain of scepticism running through the verses which could not be endorsed by anyone Bubscribing to the Westminster Confession. Judge of my surprise, then, to find at the beginning of the work an introduction from the pen of a Presbyterian clergyman of this city, in which the sentiments of the author are made the subject of fulsome panegyric. From all I can learn, tho clergyman to whom I refer is a gentleman of high attainments and spotless character ; but notwithstanding this, I submit that he is scarcely acting with consistency in preaching Presbyterianism on tho one hand and in eulogising Pantheism on the other. The ■ liev, Charles Strong, of Melbourne, adopted a somewhat similar course, and the result has beon a division in the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. We have too much false liberalism mixed with our religion in the Colonies, and I think it is the duty of the "Press to exercise a wholesome criticism on the actions of those who are placed over us as spiritual guides. To be true to his exalted calling, a minister of the Gospel should not sacrifice doctrine to sentiment.—l am, &c, A Pbesbytekian Lady. March 22. .