KELBURN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2939, 27 November 1916, Page 7

KELBURN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

« NEW CLASSROOM OPENED. Tho services held yesterday in connection with the opening and dedication of the new infant classroom of the Kelburn Presbyterian Sunday School were well attended, and successful in every way. ' In tho morning the Rev. R. 14, Davies, M.A. (Dunediii), preached, basing his remarks'on Psalm IXX, "Keep hack thy servant from presumptuous sin." _ . ' Tho service in the afternoon was conducted by the Rev. R. M. Ryburn, M.A., Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly, and tlio opening ceremony was conducted by tho Hon. J.. G. W. Aitken, Moderator-elect. Mr. Ryburn took for bis text tho words from St.. Luke's Gospel, "Suffer tho little children to como unto Mo, nnd forbid them not." He said tsnt.it was a great, significant, and highly satisfactory feature of the CliKrph that it was taking an increased interest in tho children. The building of the new schoolroom, the opening of which they were celebrating, showed tlio great interest the people connected with tho Church were taking in tho work of tho Sunday school. Ho referred to the influence of tho cradle roll iu arousing the interost of parents. vThis influence was manifested in two ways, firstly by tho interest aroused in the young by tho way in which tlicy 'are thus remembered, and secondly on tho parents. His own cxperionco was that tho cradle roll interested many parents, many of whom—especially tho mothers—who cannot got out much, apprcciato very highly tlio fact that thoir little ones aro being cared for in tho Sunday school. Ho asked that tlio little ones ho taught about Jesus, especially in tho home. Ho did not for one moment suggest that this should replace tho Sunday school, far from that. But tlioro was a- great and lasting work to bo accomplished by homo training in tho knowledge of tlio Gospel. Ho strongly recominondei that thoro should bo moro of this homo tuition. "Gather tholittlo ones around you in your homes," bo said, "and road to them Bible stories. Many a great Tifo has looked back with inexpressible thankfulness for, and appreciation of, tho deep, .far-reaching and lasting benefits derived from tho Gospel truths garnered in the homo." In regard to Sunday school work, bo impressed on parents tho great advisability of taking a livo interest in their children's work. After tho service in tho church room tho congregation adjourned in a body to tho now infant schoolroom, which was formally opened by tho Hon. J. G. W. Aitken, M.L.C. In tho course of his remarks, Mr. Aitken congratulated tho church on the very lino building they bad erected, and mentioned that tho building had been built as a memorial to the soldiers connected with i,)io Church, and who had fallen at tho front. After the Moderator had dedicated tho room by prayer Mr. Aitken declared the building open. In tlio ovening the Rev. Professor Howitson, B.A. (Dunedin), occupied the pulpit, and preached to a large congregation, taking for bis text Deuteronomy 6, 7, "And thou slialt teach ilicm dilig'ontly to thy children."