Round the Lulpits.

Otago Witness, Issue 1502, 28 August 1880, Page 11

Round the Lulpits.

NO. 1.-ALL SAINTS' OHUKOH.

(by an occasional cobbespondbnt.)

It has often struck me that many persons would take a great iuterest in knowing something about the interior and services of the many churches and chapels of this city, of every denomination ; of the preachers in the pulpits, and of the doctrines inculcated upon their hearers; something descriptive and unprejudiced, into which the smallest controversial spirit should be allowed to stray, and which should carefully exclude any single word which might give offence to either the weaker or even the stronger brethren. I will, with the permission of the editor, endeavour to describe the" impressions made on successive Sunday evenings at different churches in this city on an impartial obaerver, one who claims to be a Christian, but who does not hold himself closely bound to the doctrines of any -particular line of cleavage of that great rock of which ifc was said it should fill all the corners of the earth. On Sunday evening last I was at the Church of All Saints. The exterior of this building is decidedly wanting in attractions, but within it has many. The roof is unusually lofty, and even when the church is crammed there is no closeness or unpleasantness in the atmosphere. The far end of the chancel is adorned with ornamental freaco-work, very beautiful as seen from the body of the church ; and on either side of the chancel are the choir seats, which, I understand, are about to be replaced by more ornamental erections. Theohoir is evidently well Beleotedandoarefully trained, and sang in excellent time and tune, accompanied on the organ with considerable skill The church is well adapted for musio, and the volume of sound rolling along the lofty rafters is enriched rather than diminished when it reaches the far end of the building, whioh was very fairljr filled with representatives of all classes, high and low. The preacher was the Rev. A. R. FitchetE, 8.A., and his subject, " Authority and Freethought," was based upon the text " Prove all things : hold fast that whioh is good." He claimed that if Freethought meant free inquiry, authority was its logical corollary, and that the two expressions were not contradictory } but that if a man refused to accept the results of ages of enlightened free inquiry whioh preceded him, and insisted upon believing nothing but what he conld satisfy himself upon, he Bimply "enjoyed the privilege of being a lunatic." The very essence of Christianity was to prove all things, and that God had intended that free inqairy should prevail was manifest in all His dealings. The Bible was an illustration, and the whole history of the book showed that it was left for free inquiry to determine what parts of the countless original manuscripts— torn, scattered, and conflicting as they were— contained the true revelation from God. The Bible, as it then lay before him, was the result jof the concentrated learning, the lifelong labours, the assiduous study of generations, and it was as absurd to deny that it thereby attained no right of authority as it would be for a child to deny the right of authority in its parent or its schoolmaster. Yet that the Church still allowed free inquiry, as she ever had done, was amply shown byher appointment of the Committees now sitting, with increased knowledge, to revise the Bible yet once again. Any man was perfectly at liberty to refuse to give credence to the Nautical Almanac;, if he chose to grasp until he had managed the whole science of navigation, and checked every one of the calculations, and proved to his own satisfaction that they were reliable ; but what a madman he would be who, suddenly called upon to make a voyage, should decline to do so until he had finished his process of verification : and analogously, while it allowed and even inculcated free thought, he would be mad who throughout denied to the Bible the authority to which the greatest minds of centuries had given their impress. The great book of Nature proved that God left to free inquiry the gradual development of truth. Nature held out her hand to us full of gifts, but it was only by the most sustained inquiry, the most painful search, that their secret value and meaning was known, and thereby became invested with authority ; and while anyone was frea to believe all the results of science wrong until he had proved them right, he was simply insane if he, in-the meantime, vainglorioply rejected on his own individual responsibility the attested results and authority of the ooncentrated wisdom and intellect* of generations. The Church acknowledged— nay.lpreached— the gradual revelation of the great design of the j Creator towards tho world and man, by and with free inquiry. The completion of that revelation might be at hand or far distant ; but on the substructure of the results so far of the free inquiry of ages, the rational claim of the Church for authority was built, and until those weve proved to be the baseless fabrics of a vision, v/ould stand. No epitome such as I have endeavoured to give could, however, convey an idea of the wealth of illustration, the fluent delivery, the dialectical power, possessed by this gifted preacher. Once a member and minister of the Wesleyan community, he has now become one of the most eloquent occupants of the pulpit of the Established Church. Mr Fitohett has a pleasant face, a high and intellectual forehead, and great variety of expression. His voice is powerful, clear, and though slightly harsh, very pleasant to listen to ; and he preaches extempore, which allows a freedom of modulation and emphasis and gesture which materially enhanced the effect of a powerful sermon. He was listened to throughout with anxious attention, and I believe thoroughly possesses the esteem, the confidence of his congregation.