CORRESPONDENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 8095, 25 August 1885, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

•- '♦ [We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinion! expressed by oar correspondents] The Rev. It. Wacldell's Lecture. -•■■■ v . TO TflE EDITOR. i Slß,— What next? Where are we? In what age of the world are we living 1 These questions may well suggest themselves to any serious mind after reading the Rev Mr Waddell's lecture as reported in 'the Times of the 21st inst. Here we have a so-called minister of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God glorifying an Atheist and an avowed despiser of the divine institution of marriage. This, too, in a Christian land, before a Scotch audience, presided over by an elder (save the mark I) of toe Free .Kirk. Shade of Jobn Kaos ! Surely these must be the last days, when, as foretold in Holy Writ, evil men and Reducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. This revf rend lecturer tells us that ?' though not holding Christian views there was nothing in the novels that could be regarded as materially different from the teaching of Christianity." But he had pre viously told us that George Eliot based all good works on the love of humanity, or mankind in general, and that they must be done without reference to future reward, But Christianity teaches us that all good wo ks should spring from the love of God in Christ and the love of man for God'e sake, and that the smallest deed done from this motive will not miss its reward. The lecturer does indeed aimit that there ib a great defect in George Eliot's ethics, but immediately afterwards he adds ".that the main ideas taught in her works are continuity, solidarity. and totality," and "that these -'troths were after aU the fundamental truths of Christianity.'' So here we have a so-called Christian .minister .testifying that the f nuda'meritaUrutbs of Christianity can be taught by Jin Atheist." Simple-minded Chustians" Have been content with the old formula ex. preMive'of funidamental Christian tiulhs, *iz.;' -*- : « Btiio, Bedemption, BegerisraHon }" but it seems that our new lights have got far beyond this, and base Christian truth -and duly 6nf'ropnttotii|gf,isoliaaTity, and totality!? 1 What this jargon^ mean* I confess myself unable to explain, and I aw bold to affirm totithateT.Vx'Writon w&Qnfrndßit no

it way in which literate and pretentious quack ;• of ;thQ..Her^rt\;Sp^o6r/.^ho6V'.inyßtifjr an< c impose upon the unlearned and the credulous - who, not being able to comprehend sue! n phrases, imagine that there must ba mocl ,t hidden and myateridus wiadomconcealed ii s them. next proceeds, to sa; ;, that he did not blame the author except foi f -notvßoing .far enough, except for leaving i the idea of God out of her teaching, and tha aj tig «' dw^elieipip^ ft^Dettj ; vfwas the grea y blemish in all her works." Blemish forsooth b; Mif Atheism were after all a .tvery .,' smal f matte", instead of* the root' of 'all "error ;ii t thought and conduct. Then, -aa if he hac »■■' .Censured i"her . too^aeyet^l^fie'ad.da-^pipr^gQti' •, caily—" It w^b not tobe* supposed thoagt -.; that tbe wrifer was ; v irreligioas." >Qh, dear I I no, dear Ch:istiaufru!nds;tb-'9 author Waj c not irrdiKi')Uß,*he was only- an Atheist. What r Amazement may well seize upon v* ] A mi; isttr of the Gospel testifying that a blani denial of the Maker and Saviour of all men - the* Great Creator— -is not irreligious 1 Ii conolusian, \here is no great difficulty in un> dei standing and appraising Elliot . She was a woman cf Very grpat intellect and high literary talontg—but wi : hal an Atheisr, and. a diirega'KlWr.pf that without ! which the life of women would be most » miserable-— the f-auctitv of the. marriage tie, ' Her ethics, inch as they, are, were based on ' an entirely false faunia! ion, namely, thi " allegiance dua" to,. Lumauicy," , as your: lecturer puts it ; in other words, on . the worship of ma-kind ; the dethronement of the Lord Got 'Almighty and tbe enthronement of weak and sinful man in his' place. But good works and Christian Braces will not grow in the poisonous soil of Atheism. Dead Sea apples are the only fruit that can flourish there. As to the reverend lecturer, his character is mjre enignutical. If severely judged by big own utterances and by the inferences logically derivable from them, we must condemn him a« an apologist and abetter of A'heism. However, charity is better than lo^ic, and I am inclined to hope that his admiratu n of this highly gifted but most erratic woman, and his halting and euphemistical censure o f "aer A hesisro, and his assertion that an Aheistical creed may include " the fundamental truths of Christianity" are due to his having suocumbed to that bastard though fashionable liberalism so characteristic of the present tim^s, and to accuse him of nothing worse than a silliness having all thß •• continuity, solidarity and totality," which can be attributed fo folly, As to the thoughtless folk who applauded his lecture, they may be placed in the same category.— I am, &C, ASK FOB THE OLD PATHS, Ang, 22. 1885.