LITERATURE. CRITICAL SKETCHES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1858, 1 July 1887, Page 34

LITERATURE. CRITICAL SKETCHES.

By ■ Abistabohus.

DAWSON'S SERMONS.

Dawson has a supreme contempt ,for the doctrine of Evolution. The religion of God is something deeper and higher than this puerile trash. In man "there lies something that for the soul of him he feels to be above himself; there lies the divineness that can forgive,' the martyrdom that can suffer. I see that ( this' man can rise into what I ' am obliged to pronounce spirit, and the true life and immortality of God. These are evidence's worth all the scientific proofs in the world." Tyndall, Huxley, &c, what are they ? . When I " behold this'.f air world I become a Theist." An- atheist has no existence. "The death of Jesus Christ saves me when I pleave at all times to what I believe to be best,' when I deliberately take up the Divine will, though it mean reed, thorn, and ' gall, vinegar, mockery, and death, as He did." Let' us resist evil, mortify pride, conquer lust, and then, like Christ at death, we can say — it is finished. "God and the soul are at peace. The strayed sheep is brought home. The penitent has returned." The sinner is forgiven. ' The soul is saved." Really, this is the true plan of salvation. ' !

The Alpha and Omega of .Christianity is love, "If ye love me ye will keep my commandments, and if ye keep my commandments ye are my friends." Love is the fulfilling of the law. « Without love there can be no true life, without love no name can be written in the Book of Life ; without love' there can be no heaven'; with love all things are possible." This is salvation by love. Let this spirit pervade all our actions in all circumstances of life, and then this earth will become " the holy city, the new Jerusalem descending out ' of, heaven from God." Love will blossom into beneficent fruits of good works, and' the dream of "the communism of Christianity" will be realised.

" The effect of Christianity is to work out' of each one of us, and, therefore, ultimately out of the world, all that is evil and low — all that' is bestial, vile, vulgar, and selfish." It is a religion of benevolence and beneficence. Christ never rejected - passionate love when 'it sprung fromreal conviction. It "was sudden emotion and thoughtless impulse which Christ put aside. He knew what the shouts' ,of a mob' meant if things pleased them, and He knew what they were worth if things did not please them. ' They would shout as .loud in either case, but with a different intention. The same mouth that grows round with rapture will often grow crooked with hate, 1 and they who say ' Hosanna ! ' will by ' and bye cry ' Crucify him, crucify' him.' Flowers without roots Christ put aside. All expressions of love that did not;- come from 'real love, from the conscience, and from the con : _ .viction of the intellect; Christ put aside. Now, then, if to receive the reed, and to treat the sceptre with scorn, to gather the' group which Christ beckoned to ' come to Him, and to put back the mob and the crown; if this be not the religion of ' Jesus Christ then there is no God to bo known and loved, and feared. If to gather the lame, the blind, the halt, and the miserable, and the deep souls and true, and to reject the hypocrite, the proud, the scornful, the Pharisee, the babbler, and ' they who 'talk first and think afterwards — if this be not the religion of Christ, if this cannot live by its conformity to what is best in every man, then let it pass away."

Christianity is a religion of strong affection. It discountenances asceticism. " The true largeness of the human heart and the true affections ■of man's heart have been repressed and condemned. Even by philosophers great strength of affection, tenderness of- feeling, fulness of passion, largeness of rapture, and splendour of en-! thusiasm have been looked upon as a weakness rather than a strength, as a shame rather than a glory. Largeness of affection and depth of love are not signs of feebleness, nor are they inconsistent with strength of will and of intellect. Look on that picture of Christ with John leaning upon his bosom ! ' There can be no glorious development of humanity where the passions are weak. No great world-moving man, who draws all men to him, ever was, or can be, except there be strong affections as well as a strong will and intellect."

This is quite true. Take, for example, David, Paul, Lutlior, Cromwell. "Christ ennobles human affections and endeavours to lift them all info the service of God: Christianity is the religion of a strong will, a strong mind, and a deep and tender heart."

Man needs rest bodily and mental. The Sabbath is a blessed institution, with its rest after the deadly struggles of the week. But there can be no real rest "until you have a calm heart within." Therefore, Christ said, " Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Christ glorifies all rest by taking unrest out of the soul. ' Vile passions, ambition, love of wealth, pride', envy, must be subdued. The best prayer is, " May the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep my heart and mind." Let us value the rest of the Sabbath, and look forward to the rest that remaineth for the people of God, whose peace has passed into their spirits.

The Bible is full of the sweetest and sublimesc metaphors. The sinner appropriates these to himself. Thus God is regarded as a great shadow from the heat, and a refuge from the storm. He looks upon Him as' his fortress, tower,' shield, buckler, and sword. " What is wanted is to feel the shadow of that utter pity of God set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ, absolving all those who penitently confess their sins, and flee to Him penitent. It is the 1 sad;"timid soul who most needs to take refuge .under the, shadow, of the wings of God." Scripture is altogether human and humane in its utterances. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." The restoffered by Christ is; "Forgiveness of sins,!

ihe* f attterijoQd of GoSi the house of many mansion^;*' which vain science can neither give nor take away. '„ • - (To be concluded next week.)