THE REV. R. SCRIMGEOUR IN SAN FRANCISCO.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 27, 1 November 1873, Page 10

THE REV. R. SCRIMGEOUR IN SAN FRANCISCO.

±hf jsev Mr henmgeour will no doubt be well remembered in Otago as a minister of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Duuedin. This gentleman, we learn from the 'Alta California' of the 11th August, preached at Westminster Church last evening. Although the lecture announced was the sixth of a course on capital punishment, the attendance was quite small, not more than thirty being present. Speaking ot the Jesuits he said :_" We know they would cut our throats tomorrow if they got the chance -that they would do to-morrow what they did before, we believe and are certain of. ... We should beware of these people in this free country. We cannot be too watchful. We see the country now smiling on the Man of Sin who •would close this Bible (striking the Bible with great force to emphasise the expression), burn this chuich, and burn you yourselves within it." The ' Alta remarks "Mr Scrimgeour was exceedingly bitter in his denunciation of those who differed from him in religious beliefs too bitter to impress an impartial listener with respect for his argument. Facts go farther than impassioned assertions ; and in this case Mr Scrimgeour s mind seemed to be -wandering among the reminiscences of what he thought to be facts. That this style of preaching does not take in San Francisco, in which as in other parts of America lectures are more largely attended than here, may be inferred from the fact that Mr Scrimgeeur's audience was " not more than thirty."