WESLEY CHURCH.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 361, 11 March 1902, Page 3

WESLEY CHURCH.

MEMORIAL SERVICES,

Memorial Services were conducted at the Wesley Church on Sunday. Rev. ];. F. Rothwell being the preacher. In the morning he said that as citizens of the world, with the responsibility of taking our part not only in action but in the formation of public opinion, it was of the utmost importance that we should becorrectly informed. He called to mind the scene in the Old Testament where the young men fought and the old men prayed, and the hands of Moses, after they had become weary in supplication, were stayed up by others. We wanted to be assured of the righteousness of our cause so that we could hold up the hands of our responsible, men. They were not there to mourn for the young men who had d.ed like heroes with an unflinching face to the foe, they were there to honor them. The heroic conduct was expected from men who were volunteers in the fullest sense. When men take the field without conscription, m defence of hearth and home they fight like men and not like slaves ; but in the case of men who come from a. home that was in no way endangered, to fight for the Empire, this feeling was tenfold intensified, and then they show the world how free men can fight After some' further remarks, the preacher said that after his first utterance on the subject- in Gisborne he was waited on by a gentleman who took him to task and lent, him a book to read. He had carefully noted the portions pencil-marked for his benefit and they all asserted that there had been perfect good feeling between Dutch and British prior to the Jarneoux ttcuu. - rie —ivuuiu «/»-j ” r them what the Boers had done to preserve this good feeling which was so valuable The Old Book told them ■- A man that hath friends must sl ow himself friendly.” The Boers had practised almost every species of tyranny and goaded the patience of the British taxpayer beyond endurance. Brief reference was then made to tne franchise question, the efforts to suppress the English language, the dynamite and other monopolies, the secret service fund,’ the closing of Drifts, and the invasion of British territory. But perhaps the loudest call to a Christian nation was the treatment of the natives. Half a century ago the Christian, missionary, Robert Moffat, foresaw the trouble of to-day, Sea--, cely one of Mrs Moffat s letters to her friends were without reference to the manner in which they were harassed by the Boers. Livingstone was one of the grandest men Africa had ever seen but the Boers wrote to the Missionary Committee in London demanding his removal, because he had failed to en force a law they had made to the e - fecc that no black person should be allowed to own a horse or a gun. tne speaker then went on to say, ‘ We are not now fighting the Boer, but the pro-Boer,” and some of these gentry wim are abusing the liberty of the British flag came in for scathing reference. Spiritual lessons could, he said be learned from our soldiers in South Africa—“ not a skulker amongst them was a grand testimony. Let the members of the Christian army live to deserve similar eulogium. God wants volunteers who will manifest the same sublime forgetfulness of self. We are told more than once during the war that the usefulness of the New Zealanders lay largely in the fact that they could act, if need be, without the word of command. All might thus volunteer for active service and take their place amongst the “ irregulars if they could not get a commission elseIn the evening, notwithstanding the many counter-attractions, there was a good congregation. In closing an eloqlient sermon on “ the new weapon with which the Philistine sought to qi av David Mr Rothwell made touchZr reference to the late Bro. Nelson, who had frequently occupied the pulpit. He was one who had faithfully wielded the old weapon, and had been called to his reward like a shock of corn m his season In response to the minister’s invitation, the congregation stood, m token of their sympathy with the re liiives of the deceased minister. This expression is to he conveyed by letter to his daughters in Dunedin. Approbate music was rendered by the choir T - organist, Mr C. J. Hast, played “ Vital Spark,” and other appropriate selections. The anthem was btanct up lor Jesus.” Mr Geo. Russell was | the soloist.