CONGREGATIONAL JUBILEE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 954, 22 October 1910, Page 9

CONGREGATIONAL JUBILEE.

DELEGATES ENTERTAINED. / The Congregational Union; of Victoria has been its: jubilee meeting. ' •■ The/Rev. J./.W.. Jones presented the committee's fiftieth annual: report and balance-sheet.' This showed that.]. good progress had .'been made -during the year, church' fellowships! having .'been' established-at-Glenliuntly, Black Rock, and' Bendigo. A new church had been built at Deopdene, and another- at Oakleigh!,.the latter costing ; £250. ..The balance-sheet .showed a credit of ,£145. The Rev. Joseph King' presented : the report of .the '.....Historical Committee.; The committee -.was of opinion that, the hundredth anniversary 'of -the first. Congregational Church iu Australia should not .pass some recognition at the;annual meeting of the -union. : , It was formed/ in; Sydney ;by William Pascoe Crook.'iri : August, 1810. In later years! Mr.- Crook'resided in -Melbourne, on the spot where the Town 'Hall now. stands.' He' spent i'his last days' there, and in the old; AVest Melbourne, Ceme-, tery the memorial inscription over his' grave might still be read. ■'-: It was cut in,a slab of red gum, and had outlasted, those cut in'.stphe."■' ■ ; '"'! In the eveiiirig,- the Roy. G. ;;A.! W.. Legge gave, an ' address on ' "The Church's Supreme .!iTeed, . the Rediscovery of Her Redemptive Function." The lecturer; said that as a .diligent ivorker., in., the sacred .■. ranks, of•-.'. the working, ministry,- and with an, affection amounting,.to- a passion; for ■ Christ's Church,- ho believed'he had a' message for .his, brothers and ] sisters. We -'all perceived that power/had. gone out' of. tho! Church. ! ; There never !.had been -a time ..when Christianity! had .not seemed to' its : to] be .-'dying'.:" : His opinion was that there:was no institution doing a tithb. of, the'.work' that. the Church was .doing, in' the .world to-day.' Wp.had to admit, .though,: that some:thing,;w"as-; wrong.-:; ; ,The;.. Church did not jack : activity; but she,! lacked; niastefful'ries's;'of/purpose..:: She'held,!her , faith' with :but'a ; slack! harid.'-S He, did hot ,tliink'- ; >the. Church ].shbijld '-interest itself -in'..political 'jiiatfers; *;dr!-'! inevitably!' she .:would.-'b'e.;"driveh;.into:'thb/dusty realms !of/party .politics;: Once]the, ■!Church, '.departed, .even ■ with tlje; best: intentions, 'from': her,-truecharacter.and; work,i:she had.invariably .become .tyrannical.': The .Cluirch's duty>was : not „to; make, politics, :but- to make' meii,:; aiid to send them, forth]..with■.lier'.h'enedictioh,' to .'make polities.].. Tho'/Ghurch/niust'-', refashion; andspreach -a] To-day, God;.]was]confounded with processes 'and. laws and principles. If redemption ' became -.real, again, to lis "all the: olil earnestness 'would..-refcurii.' .But wliile.the scientist-interpreted the, world for.]us, and:.tn'e. philosophbr, discovered the' secrets,p'f, feeing,]]a'nd]the politician jinade] wise laws,'. who]] was -.to; search for ]thte ,!.souls- of. fnen'-aiid .reconcile them '-tb'Gbd?:'.Let-us beware.lost, we should leave undone more matters, the.' perfoririaiice'- .of ■ > which]. Christ: expected of US/:]]::': ; :.'-.: : !-' //■'•■'■j-V- :]v ■