MR R. GILLIES AND THE REV W. BANNERMAN.

Evening Star, Issue 3532, 18 June 1874, Page 2

MR R. GILLIES AND THE REV W. BANNERMAN.

[By Telegraph.] Balclutha, June 18. The Presbytery delivered the following judgment That this Presbytery having heard Mr Gillies in support of the charge made by him against Mr Bannerman, finds that while Mr Bannerman, as reported in the'Bruce Herald,’under mistake in attributing to Mr Gillies the article described as recent, there is no evidence in the report of his speech of slandering Mr Gillies. But inasmuch as some of his statements may be sufficient to aggrieve Mr Gillies, Mr Bannerman be requested to make a public state* ment, with a view of having the said state“enjL™thdra*n» seemed to represent Mr Gillies as the author of the said article Further, that Mr Gillies be requested to withdraw the letter sent to Mr Bannerman in which the charge of slander is made.” The following is in full the report of the pertinent parts of Mr Bannerman’s speech at Balclutha, on April 2:—He was astonished that he should have been asked to take part in the proceedings, belonging, as he did, to the set of incapables which the ‘Dunedin Daily limes’ had declared the ministers of Otago to be. He was still more astonished that on the platform so many of those ministers had a place, and that he did not see some of those gentlemen associated with the Press, who counted themselves so very, superior that they might despise all others! „ It did happen that there were few matters affecting the social well-being—especially in the direotions intellectual and religious—that the ministers of Otago were not requested, and earnestly pressed to lend a helping hand. He was not aware, however, that the editor of the ‘ Daily Times’ did, or was'asked to take part m such matters. Certainly he was ignorant of any occasion when the editor of the ‘ Daily Times’ had taken his place amongst those who have been privileged in public assembly to address their fellow-men on matters affecting the highest interests in tune and eternity. He tqok it as a sign that those who had arranged this meeting, and’ those who composed it, did not sympathise with’ the representations of the minssry, ep recently made in the columns of the ‘ Daily Times’* and taat not for the first time then. The latest, however, was of such a kind as far to exceed, in its bitterness and- apparent animosity, all similar previous attacks made on the Christian Ministry of Otago.' It was evident that it originated- in recent; discussions on the Sabbath question, in connection' with which, as in most questions affecting 1 the religious interests of the community, the ministry of the Presbyterian Church had been most prominent; and though couched in terms that gave them a more extensive appli-. cation than previous similar articles ,in : the Daily Times,’ no one could doubt that it was the ministry of. the Presbyterian Church that was specially aimed at“ He’ had good reason to believe that the article referred to was not written by the respensK hie editor of the ‘ Daily Times,’ but by one n mself a Presbyterian, formerly an officebearer in tha Presbyterian Church, understood to be a large shareholder in the • aily Limes Company, and not without influence in the management of that journal—a gentleman who bad publicly taken part in the discussion that resulted in the opening of the Athenseum on the • ord’s Day,” which has resulted, as they were informed in the pubic Press, in a rush for the magazines and newspapers in which little could be found that would prepare man to meet the Almighty iu judgment, or fit him for that holi-' nes? in which chiefly consi-ted that eternal I 1 ! 6 ’- l was *4® gif fc of God, through Jesus ; Christ their Lord. He did nob thiuk'the author ot the' article referred to was" how an office-bearer of the Presbyterian Church; perhaps he was not now a member of it. ... Certainly there was nothing in anything that had been spoken or written on the Sabbath question by any minister or member of the rresbyterian Church that warranted the attack he had made on the former, and he could’ only account for its excessive bitterness of the article on the ground that the writer was ill at eaie m his conscience, because of the part he himself played on the Sabbath quea-’ tion; that he was conscious he had done wrongly; was too proud to acknowledge his error; and sought to find »ellef for his own bitterness of soul by seeking to make others equally wrong, and saying of them what was truer of himself, laying blame on others which he should if- an( i he was conscious should lay at his own door. He had no intention or defending himself against the attacks of such an one,’under such circumstances and for such an end. ’ Personally hV had gone in and but among them for twenty years, largely engaging himself in many matters affecting their intellectual and Religious well-being. Though conscious of' muoh weakness and manifold infirmities, he was conscious of having shrunk from no duty or shirked any toil. He was content to leave his position and the way be fulfilled the work given him to do in the hands of those who were familiar with many of them. At the same time, be would take this pnblic oppor-' tunity of denying the right of any such individual as the reputed author of that article to sit on judgment, as he has done, on a body of men the mosjb self-denying the com'munity, and-whose’setvioes are more largely sought outside thb special vfork of their profession than those of ahy other section of the community. He Relieved that one great cause why the Prbsbytorian ministers were so specialty signalled out as objects of attack by the ‘ Daily Times’ was the fact that they held forth more fully and insisted more frequently on the great truths of revelatum ; that holding to the truth of Jesus, they gave less countenance. and less-suppqrt to the designs of men whose sole dreams rested on things seen and temporal, whose idea of happiness wont no further than carnal indulgence, sensual pleasure, &c. Let the Presbyterian ministers cease to oppose horse-racing and gambling ; let them", go in for increased facilities for amusement,,! especially on the Lord’s Day; let them cease to proclaim that men should deny themselves, take up the , cross, and follow Jesus denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts* and living soberly, righteously, and godly! and then will the tones of the * Daily Times’ be changed. 11

«i.Pi Ugal £w eW * r u’i in re f er enoe to the limited cwoles of jests fables,- and tales which occur in the literature of aU nations, says he is tempted to believe that human invention, like a barrel' f JSv t0 * Bp ® cific muhbeif of|tunes. Got anything fora sick man t6*!read?” Zl aP W ed at a «Ke: otner uay. iTes, anything you want Bible* ; th. Gimme 7 ' .<*!»¥*•, dad’s a hangel? »Ser*“^’^ 0 W«n