WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7444, 27 April 1903, Page 3

WESLEYAN CHURCH.

At tho Wesleyan Church, last evening, the llev. 1). J. Murray discussed on ''Religious Certitudes," and took his text from St. Luke's Gospel, Ist chap. 4th verse, "That Thou Mightiest know tho certainty of those things wherein Thou hast been instructed." The preacher said: Men everywhere are asking of religion and revelation, " is it truo '.' " " Can it be proved ?." " Has it been demonstrated to bo a fact ? " And our reply is: " Thank God, there are increasing numbers of men and women who can speak on these matters with the "'accent of conviction.'" Tho Christian can be as sure of his faith as the biologist is of his, and that by methods as severely scientific. But in these excitablo days, we noto that the old religious issues are greatly shifted, and the forms of error are more subtle than they used to be. But the legions are still before us, " Tenting, tenting, tenting on the Old Camp Ground." And, said Mr Murray, standing on the original facts, ideas and forces of our religion, we are safe within a tower that cannot be stormed by the battering-rams of logic; nor beaten down by tho war engines of philosophy. No ladders can soalo its walls, nor can any merely intellectual sappers and miners overturn them. Is anything certain '? Yes; God is a certainty. Ono Being rules this universe, supremely benevolent and wise. And when we look up through faith, we can see a face looking kindly back upon us. There comes down a hand which touches ours; and if we listen we shall hear a voice say, " The Soul is not Fatherless." Revelation is a certainty. Thero is a wise suggestion in the remark of Henry Rogers, " Tho Bible is not such a Book as man would have made if he could, or couldhave made if he would." "What a history is that of this Book's preservation ! And what a marvellous amount of good it has done for our race. It has comforted the weary and refreshed the faint of all tho ages of men who believe it. Dear grand old book ! The widow in her poverty still reads its precious promises to her fatherless children, the sick still touch their lips to the crystal current of this "■ river of the water of life,' 1 its pledges of a resurrection keep the graves of loved ones ever green, and the dying turn their closing eyes to it as tbe only lamp through the dark valley of the shadow of death. Old Bible, said the preacher, thou are a certainty that shall survive infidelity, outline criticism, and stand immortal and in perishable. And Jesus Christ is a certainty. He is the most real and abiding fact in the world's history. He cauio to stay. The wonder is that anyone can question His Presence in the twentieth century, Where are the evidences V men say. We reply, look at the lives to which He is giving moaning and purpose and purity that were utterly without them. And He is still gladdening the hearts and gilding the prospects of the toiling poor, imparting a gracious benediction to the sorrowful and suffering; and making, for rich and poor alike, faith in God 'a blessed and joy-bringing reality. The marvel is that men still refuse to believe in Him. Christ dead and Christianityfa failure, said Mr Murray. Tell it to the poor widow who, this morning, gathered her little ones round her to pray " Give us this day our daily bread," or to the dying saint, or tho strugging youth, or the tempted maiden, and they will spurn your assertion and shame you by tho simplicity and sincerity of their trust. In conclusion, the preacher earnestly besought his hearers to keep their faith in these realities ; and said, we, also, shall know the certainty of these things wherein we have been instructed.