SYNOD OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANTERBURY AND WESTLAND.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1443, 1 October 1878, Page 3

SYNOD OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANTERBURY AND WESTLAND.

The .annual meeting of the Synod took place at seven o'clock last evening, at St. Andrew's Church.

The roll was called, when the following answered to their names: —Key. C. Fraser, Christehurch; Kev. John Elmolie, Christchurch; Rev. James Hill, Lytteltonj Rev. J. W. Cree, Leeston; Eev. W. McGregor, Kaiapoi; Rev. Joshua Mcintosh, Sefton; Kev. W. Douglao, Akaroa; Rev. W. R. Campbell (clerk to the Synod), Waiau; Rev. Rutherford Waddell, Prebbieton; Rev. H. B. Burnett, Ashburton; Rev. Neil McOallum, Oxford s iifiv- W. H. Horner, Papanui. Elders—ifessra James Robertson.St. Andrew's Christehurch and John Anderson, St. Paul's, Christehurch. Probationers—Rev. James D. Fergusson, Ly ttdton, and Rev. Francis Harwell, Malvern. Students—Messrs P. &. Munro, Halkett, and Roderick McKenzie, Rangiora. Presbytery ofjTimaru-Rev. G. Barclay, Geraldine; Rev. W. Gillies, Timaru ; Rev. G. Lindsay, Waimatt\ Presbytery of Hokitika—Rev. George Mori.ce, Hokitika, and Rev. W. H. Root, Grcymouti':. The Rev. Geo. Morice, the retiring Moderator, preached an able sermon from 1 Cor. 1, 30 (latter part). The roll of the Synod was mado up by the Rov. N. McCallum, in the absence of the cleric, who arrived shortly afterwards. The retiring Moderator proposed as Moderator for this year the Rov. Joshua Mcintosh. The motion was unanimously agreed to. The Rev. J. Mcintosh then read the following opening address:— Brethren—l occupy the position of Moderator of Synod on the present occasion, not certainly in accordance with my own wishes and desires, but simply because having refused on a former occasion Beveral years ago, when a similar proposal was made to mo, I now bow to the decision of several brethren in the church, whom I have long and intimately known, and whose opinion and advice I feel bound to respect. I offer you my hearty thanks lor the honour which you have conferred upon me, and with earnest prayer for the divine blessing, and looking for your assistance, sympathy Mid indulgence in the discharge of the dutlfls which now devolve upon me, I hope that I may be able to perform them with impartiality. How cheering is the thought that the Great King

and Head of the Church looks down from his throne of glory above and takes a lively interest in all that we do, and renews His promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." When He commissioned His disciples to go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, He further added " Lo I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." How consoling then the thought in our present circumstances of enjoying the sense of His gracious presence. Ho is now seated on His Mediatorial throne in glory, but He still bends on earth the eye of a brother, and still says unto us " all things whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, believing, ye shall receive." May He pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that we may faithfully perform our ecclesiastical duties in the house of our God, and give glory to his name. We are far removed from the land of our fathers, and in some respects at least we occupy a position different from our brethren and fellow-laborers there, yet here as there, wo enjoy the privilege of worshipping the God of our fathers, none daring to make us afraid. Let us then with heart and soul enter into our work, and strive in the strength of Divine grace to promote the glory of our God and advance the interests of our Redeemer's kingdom. Our Church in this land, like all the other Churches, is yet in its infancy, much care and attention are therefore demanded. Much prudence and wisdom are peculiarly requisite at the hands of those who stand at the helm, that the vessel may be safely guided into the open sea. In the early ages of the Christian Church we find the disciples assembling together and consulting with one another in regard to various matters which occurred among them, and we invariably find them committing their way to God in prayer, and earnestly pleading for counsel and direction. We find them rejoicing to meet together and converse with one another and tell of all that the Head of the Church had enabled them to accomplish, and thus did they strengthen the hands and encourage the hearts of one another in their arduous undertaking; let us imitate their example, and rejoice in the assurance that our Great King and Head is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Many no doubt wore the trials and severe the persecutions to which they were exposed, but they patiently endured, and one of them could say, " I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak then am I strong." Many were the persecutions to which our forefathers were exposed in our native land. They were hunted like partridges on the mountains, were tied to the stake and burnt in the flames, because of their determination to worship their God according to their conscience, but they shrunk not back, being fully resolved to obey God rather than man. And notwithstanding the boasted advancement of the present age, and the amount of liberty wrung from those who would gladly withhold it, how many are even now subjected to persecution ? But it is not so with us. By the good hand of our God upon us we enjoy liberty of conscience, and wo can take up the language of Israel's singer, "I was glad when thej|said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord to the testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord." There are, however, difficulties before us, and they are neither few nor small, but they are not insuperable. Our church is assuming _ large proportions in this land, and especially in this province of the land, and great is the difficulty of supplying the spiritual wants of our members. Some perhaps in outlying districts are inclined to imagine that they are wholly overlooked, that no man cares for their souls. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. A step has been taken in the right direction by the church at home, in sending students among us, not merely to complete their curriculum under our superintendance, but also to assist us by the exercise of their gifts in the meantime. Still, what are these among so many. We find other churches, the Episcopalian, the Congregationalist, the Wesleyan, readily employing the lay agency at their command, and thus entering into possession of many fields which would otherwise remain unoccupied by them. Is it not possible for us to go and do likewise ? Shall we be ashamed to learn wisdom from them ? If suitable individuals can be found among them, can they not also be found among ourselves? Presbyterians insist upow an educated ministry—it is right that it should be so —an uneducated ministry would be a terrible calamity, and the day that Presbyterianism relaxes its rules as to the education of its ministry, is the day of its commencement to decline.! But while insisting on a thoroughly educated ministry, can we not find intelligent, God-fearing elders or other office-bearers, like the catechists in the Highlands of Scotland, wh»sc unctuous prayers and earnest exhortations would be most refreshing to many who have in .tho meantime no opportunity of going into the houso 0 f God on the Sabbath day, and joining in the public exercises of God's worship. Gould not such individuals be found among us, and sent forth under the superintendence of the neighboring minister, not certainly to preach, bffc ,to vißit the sick in the outlying districts, and to hojd meetings for prayer, reading of God's Word', and exhortation on the Sabbath day. We read of " a' cei'tajn Jew, named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, who was fervent in spirit, and spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, and when he went into Achaia he helped them much who had belayed through grace, for he mightily convinced th* Jews, and that publicly, Bhowing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. It iB sad to think of tha multitudes who are lost, not merely to the Presby-fceyjan Church, but to all that is good, just through the want of opportunity of waiting upon God in_ the public exbrcises of His worship. How quietly and how speedily does spiritual slumber steal upon men! and how often do we find them indulging in sins, the very suggestion of which but a short time before would have filled ..them with horror, and led them to exclaim wit}?, him of old, " Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing." By adopting such an arrangement as this, our Church would be enabled to retain within her pale many who are at present worshipping in other churches, and many more who enter no plac,o of worship, and would also be enabled to gathfeir congregations, and have regularly ordained pasfcbi's »et over them, in districts which arc now wholly unprovided for. Let us thank God for all that we have hitherto been enabled to accomplish with the limited means at our disposal, and, at the same time, take courage, rejoicing in the assurance of His holy wo?d t'bat Christ's large and broad dominion shall extend from pea to sea, and from the river to' the earth's utmost bounds, But how frequently do we find coldness and indifference, even among those who dw.ll in tho very midst of gospel ordinances and means of grace. Do not our hearts sicken at the thought of the intemperance, licentiousness, Sabbath-breaking that obtain to such an alarming extent in the midst of ua ; and can we shut our eyes to the fact that we do not sufficiently stamp such courses with tho seal of our disapprobation ? Some, perhaps, may he ready to affirm that this is the natural, neceeaary result of the Church occupying the position of a voluntary church. It certainly does occupy that potation, but, at the samo time, let no man act the poyartfiy part of keeping bt*ck the truth because of the fear qf man God wmdoth no man a warfare at Ins own'charges, and greater ia _ He that is with us than all that can be against us ; the fear of man bringeth a snaro, but ho that putteth his trust in the Lord shall bo safe. _ The grand end of tho Christian Ministry is the conversion of souls. This, then, must bo our endeavor, be the consequences what they may, and who can cause us to speak what wo ought, and as wo ought, but Ho in whoso hands we and our words are. And if in tho moral, as in tho natural world, we have sometimes tho rain and sometimes the sunshmo, let us bear in remembrance that that which hath been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that what shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. If wo run our eye along the Church's history, from the days of Eno», when men began to call upon

the name of the Lord down to the present time, we shall sometimes find advancement and sometimes decline, we shall have much cause to rejoice and much cause to mourn, but let us constantly plead for the outpouring of the Bpirit and the downfall of such showers of as fell in Pentecostal times, let us plead that men may realise the interests of their never dying souls in all their high and and ample proportions, as evidently transcending the things of time and sense ; and let us plead in faith, and the result will undoubtedly be not only larger additions to our numbers, but also a closer walk with God, and the coming again of times of revival and of refreshing from God's gracious presence, and from the glory of His power. Let us wrestle with the Lord to open the windows of heaven and shower down upon us such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive. In the form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, we find the petition " Thy kingdom come;" let us then constantly put up this petition, and cry unto the Lord that he would water this the land of our adoption, as he hath in years gone by watered the land of our fathers with the dew of His heavenly grace, and fulfil his promise that " the kingdoms of this world shall becomo the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ," and that "incense and a pure offering shall ascend to His throne from the rising to the going down of tho sun."

It was agreed that the Synod should meet to-day at 11 o'clock, the first hour to be occupied with devotional exercises ; that at 12 the subject of defining the duties of the agent of the Church should he taken up, and that in the evening the report of the committee on temperance should be received. At the close of the Synod last evening the Moderator pronounced the benediction.