MR MACKAY'S LECTURE AT WAIANIWA.

Southland Times, Issue 2676, 6 February 1877, Page 2

MR MACKAY'S LECTURE AT WAIANIWA.

(to the editob op the times.) Sib, — MrMackaygaveoneofhis'lectures at the Waianiwa School-room on Sunday last, and I wish to give some of your readers, who have not heard him, an idea of his qualifications in that capacity. Mr M. has a powerful voice, his utterances are remarkably clear, and the zest with which he handles his subject, coupled with chaste and well ordered language, engages the attention to the very last. Mr Mackay's lecture lasted lhr. 40min., subject, " The Kingdom of God." He commenced by stating that the title of his subject stood in the fore front of Biblical teaching, and that the current teaching of modern times was one of the great errors of the present day. Mr M. maintained that the kingdom spoken of in the Bible, is to be a visible one established in Jerusalem. If, said he, it is to be defined as a spiritual reign of Christ in the heart, it is a failure. To strengthen his assertion he remarked that in Europe there are 10,000,000, of disciplined men in arms, ready to slaughter one another at a moment's notice, and asked, does the present state of things indicate the establishment of Christ's kingdom throughout the civilized world ? Facts like these answer in the negative. Mr M. contended that the downfall of Turkey would be j the cleansing of the sanctuary, preparatory to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, and that Russia, exasperated by the attitude of Turkey, would certainly demolish her. These facts, he gathered from the prophecy of Daniel and Revelations, are on the very verge of fulfilment. For my own part Ido not see that anything practical can be evohred from these etJuft * la regard to &• prophetic part

of Scripture it is imppsiibk^toi^re at any definite Conclaeioil, -E^j^^he days of the Apostles tße ehdoi^nims feas over, and over again beenT3|c|arwi. The reign of Nero was heralded^ the end, which was regarded as being near again in the days of Coustan tine. .The Itvitigitea sold their goods anj&|peld thjMnselves in reading for s trajMi^iit to cs&e skies. Dr Gumming Jhas':ttpeAtedly given tfie exact dates when the consummation of the world wonld take place. In 1866 Baxter, an elaborate expositor, caused a great sensation by attempting to prove Napoleon the Third to be the destined monarch of the world, and that he should subdue 10 kingdoms, and be slain at the battle of Armageddon. Now both Cumming and Baxter are proved to be incorrect in the exposition of the prophecy along- with- their contemporaries, JSagUle, A. Bonar, Judge Noah, ..Rabbi Adler*. Parker, Dr Seiss, Beala, BlvJ&Fanidrif Beade,- -Allison, »LeibßU*v 4ukU-Bmlhu As so many intelligentnnen;have failed to elucidate these my steries,lwould-adv4se-Mr Mackay's hearers to receive his interpretations with caution. Mr Mackay was somewhat bold when he told bis hearers that there is: no Christiau^yj-withpiatrj full Understanding of the iTiatufe pi the visible kingdom which: should be established in Jerusalem. Such teaching is exceedingly reprehensible and pernlcjpus, because Mr M. makes it the vital essentfal while lie ignores the Jjrajhdtf principles embraced iby the whole of the; Christi«n world ; and ;if. we, are wrong, <J&r Mackav makes us out to be.theai we are virtually separated froul 'the world of Christian nqpe^ Would he condemn men wlio Tiave spenftheirTivesTwibljrm the service of religion— Brainerd, Toplady, Whitfield, Wesley, Cheyne, Spence, Bunyan? I would like to see any who have embraced the Christad'e'lplhign doctrines as devout/ and exemplary as their opposite*. Where are the fruits of such teaching as Mr M»ckay trjes to enforce ? The Wesley ans, Methodists, P|esbyterians, Baptists, Quakers-, Oongr.ega* tionalists, and EpißCopatians haveT isKiiiething more substantial abdiendiinhg^ than Mr M. offers, namely, regeneration w the spirit and life everlasting.— Yours «b. ' ■ . '. " ■".■■■ : ' {