STOKE.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1660, 15 August 1873, Page 3

STOKE.

[communicated.]

On Tuesday evening the Rev. Mr. Buddie gave a lecture on " Infidelity, contrasted with Christianity," in the Wesleyan Chapel here; and there is little'doubt thathad,the night not been so cold and blusterous, there would have been a much larger attendance. Mr. Robert Lucas, of Nelson, occupied the chair. Before the lecturer commenced, Mr. A. Harley addressed the chairman, and said* he attended by Mr. Lucas's invitation, and wished to know if any opportunity would be given to the audience to ask questions of the lecturer if the statements advanced by him were considered doubtful. This the lecturer agreed to.

Mr. Buddlh then commenced by using an illustratration, that if a person wished to eract a building to last for a long period, be would look principally to the foundation and see that the workmanship was good, so he would commence at the Creation and proceed downwards to Hevelations, after which he said that though Mr. Thomas Paine and Monsieur Voltaire, with their disciples, had been hammering away for a long time at the foundation of Christianity, he was happy to say it had been without avail, as Christianity was built upon a rock. He spoke of the loving-kindness of the Creator in providing means of escape from infidelity through the belief in the Redeemer, and concluded by asserting the proved effioacy of prayer. When the Chairman said if any one had any questions to ask he should be happy to hear them, Mr. A. Ha.ri.by asked: If, in the opinion of the lecturer, it showed the loving-kindness of the Creator that every person should be condemned to eternal torments for Adam's committing an action which he could not avoid, and which was brought about, according to the Bible account, by bad workmanship P j As this was not answered, Mr. Harley oontinued: The lecturer made God out to be far worse in his j treatment of mankind than the worst parent that ever lived j for no father could see his children roasting over a slow fire even for one hour if he had the power to take them off. Yet God, who according to the lecturer's belief, had the power to save, doomed all mankind to ro&Bt in torments for eternity, because he made men weak. He (Mr. Harley) said all without fear of contradiction, for no roan could possibly obey the code of laws he (Mr. Buddie) had said must be obeyed to be a Christian. The Lectures thon asked Mr. Harley what was his idea of God. - Mr. Harlot answered, that according to the Bible God must be a big man, as we are expressly told that men were made in his image, and like unto him; but there he quite disagreed with all the lecturer advanced, because one time he made God a spirit, and next time a man. As to the lecturer's assertion about the efficacy of prayer; he (Mr. Harley) thought it sheer nonsense, as he had prayed for twenty years at a stretch and never get an answer at all. Mr. Harley finished by saying the lecturer bad made a great many assertions that night, though he never attempted to prove one, and he challenged Mr. Buddie to Rebate the first three chapters of the Qld or New Testament at an; time that mitd that geatllmaa,