CHURCH MEETING.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1929, 30 April 1880, Page 3

CHURCH MEETING.

A Church meeting in connection with the meeting of the General Synod at Ohristchurch was held in St. Michael's schoolroom last evening, his Lordship the Primate presiding. There was a large attendance of ladies and gentlemen. The proceedings were commenced by singing a hymn, followed by prayer.

The Chairman said his jjjjnmpal busine 88 was to introduce those », t - ad i kindly consented to address the mee. ■ ?*/to the work ef the Ohuroh outside the°? J 9Eny, and the fact of having those among i?j|m who could lead their thoughts away it gJ$-Mir immediate surroundings ?ras a great He then proceeded to say that the gentlemen who proposed to entertain and instruct them in this way were specially qualified by personal experience and reading to give them information of what was going on in the Bhapo of mission work in many directions, and the interest to him insuchmatters would be sensibly increased by this means. He then called upon the first speaker. The Bishop of Dunedin, in response to the invitation, said he had intended to speak chiefly of the work of the Church in Sweden, but inasmuch as he had already addressed many of those present on that subject in another place, he should not confine himself to the Swedish Church, but speak of the operations being carried on, with more or less success, in parts of Europe. He then proceeded to describe a trip he bad made to the north of Europe, at the instance of the Bishop of London. In company with his chaplain, he went chiefly overland, his object being to see as much of the intervening country as possible. To proceed then, he visited North Germany, and made a halt at Utrecht, where he had some pleasing intercourse with the clerical representatives of the Church, and although there appeared room for improvement in the religious ej stem there, yet a deep interest was evinced in its progress, and he experienced great pleasure in the conviction that his presence was really welcome, and he trusted was productive of some good. From North Germany he travelled through Denmaik, and thence to Gothenburg, in Sweden. In this locality he was received most kindly and hospitably by all the residents, and he there met some of the dignitaries of the Church and members of the Theological Institute, with whom he had much pleasant conversation. In this connection the right rev. gentleman made reference to a letter which had appeared in the " Press" of that morning, the writer of which said he (the Biuhop) was wrong in his description of the state of the Swedish Church in reference to the doctrines of the Lutheran Church. What he now wished to say was that he was not responsible for paying that Church was not properly described by the adjective " Lutheran," because the theologians whom he conferred with on his visit there were very particular indeed to make it known to me that in no part of their standards or formularies did the word occur at all, and should not be used in a true and scientific description ofitbe Church. Turning to another part of the question he said he was quite willing for his part that English residents in Sweden should be treated in the same way there, as he hoped we should be able to receive natives of Sweden into our Church here, for the purpose of their own spiritual advantage, and that they should not feel as if they were sheep without a shepherd. Before concluding he remarked that before leaving he took the opportunity of seeing the old Catholics, who were holding Synod at the time, and he was struck with the fact that they held such informal gatherings as the present on each evening, doing their legislative business in the day time. Beturning to Cologne be stayed there, and saw the chaplain of the English Church —a very excellent minister, who had been ordained in America, and who had done a great deal of work in his district on a miserable salary. He might remark here that many colonials travelled on the Continent of Europe, and when in Cologne he met gentlomen whom he had previously known in New Zealand, and he mentioned this because he hoped tourists of this class would seek out the ministers of our Church, and, so by evincing sympathy and interest in their operations, strengthen the work of the Church generally. He read a letter from the chaplain above referred to, which he had received after leaving Cologne, and which spoke cheerfully of the impetus given to their energies by his (the Bishop's) visit and advice. In conclusion he urged his hearers not to confine their sympathies to purely local interests. Hymn —" Prom Greenland's icy mountains."

The Bishop of Waiapu next addressed the meeting, giving his experience of India. In the first place he spoke of the vast area of the country, and the numerous population, equal to one-fifth of the human race. He proposed to treat specially of the mission work of India, and of the army of priests who went out there, many of them having to be acquainted with twenty different languages for the efficient fulfilment of their work. As indicating the difficulties to be contended with in teaching among the people to whose conversion the Missionaries devoted themselves, be referred to the different Hindoo systems of philosophy and peculiar institutions of the country, such as that of caste, ■which led them to extremes of sooial exclusiveness, pride among the different orders being a distinguishing feature of the race. Another feature of their social system was the seclusion of their women. These institutions made it very difficult for the priesthood to approach them. The same to a large extent might be said of the Mahommedans, who were utterly opposed to the English and the Christians. He then proceeded to show what had been done by the Church to attack these dark systems of heathenism. The efforts made had been attended with considerable success, and now they were largely assisted by Native ministers. Christian education in mission schools was an element in the important work of conversion, and the Government of India assisted this movement by grants in aid to the schools. The result was a Native Ohuroh gathered out from among the people of the land. He then went on to illustrate the indirect results attained by missionary labor, whose influence was spreading throughout the land, and the day was hopefully looked forward to when the entire population of India would be Christian.

Anthem by the choir. Archdeacon Clarke said he had been asked to say something of the work among the Maoris in this country, and he regretted that others in the room who knew more of the subjeet had not been chosen. He would proceed, however, to the best of his ability. The Maori Church population numbered about 6000; there were eight Maori clergymen. Twelve years ago there were only three, but through the Providence of God and the energy of the Maori clergymen, the number had been increased as stated. On one occasion a Maori priest, Phillip, observed to a number of married women on the subject of marriage, that they were, or ought to be, as shrouds to a mast, meaning that they ought to be the Bupports of their husbands, and this, he thought, was a useful lesson, though coming from an unsophisticated Maori. The Maoris, too, v ere liberal in their support of the Church, and a number of small churches had bsen erected, varying in value from £6O to £560, and some of them being very comfortably furnished, and the Maori ministers and people were perhapß more careful to follow the regulations laid down by the General Synod, than the members of Synod were themselves. The families regularly had prayers, many of them both morning and evening. The baptisms for the past year had been 275 infants, 31 adults, and the communicants 936, which was a larger proportion than were shown by the returns for the European Church. The speaker illustrated his address with numerous interesting and amusing anecdotes. Hymn —" Let us dream of meditation." Tho Bis-iop of Melanesia then came forward. He remarked upon the peculiar progression of the speeches made that evening, commencing with the references to the country occupied by our forefathers in the church, and coming down to the work being dono among tho Native population in this and neighbouring colonics. Speaking of his own particular sphere of action, he said he would first consider what they might call their raw material, what the state of the heathens was among whom he lived. When he went among them they were not free, in a christian sense, being bond slaves to superstition, the terrors of which constantly aßsail them. They believed in supernatural influences, and they invariably ascribed death _ to witchcraft. He showed how this superstition had, to hiß own knowledge, caused a brother to kill his sister. He also found among these people no hope. They believed in a sort of life after death, but a life in which there was nothing to excite hope. His mission there was to teach these people what they had to believe and receive. He then proceeded to

1 describe the peouliaritieß of the country, in which different languages were spoken among its people. To carry out the missionary works it was necessary to have native ministers, and to effect this the Norfolk Island School had been established. There a number of lads h-d been taken from thirty or forty ' islands for purposes of instruction. On that island, he was happy to say, they had the most beautiful chapel in the Southern hemisphere, raised to the memory of Bishop Patterson. The Bight Bev. gentleman gave some interesting anecdotes of his experiences in his island home, showing how great had been the reform worked among a heathen people, making particular reference to the case of a young man in which the powor of prayer had been specially manifested He found among these people a cheerful willingness to wcrk, not only on their own islands, but on the other islands ; and some of them absolutely voluntecrad to go and work in the interests of the Gospel, so that it would be seen these people wore not only ready to "receive," but were also anxious to " give." In conclusion, he dwelt upon pleasant portions of the history of his work in these islunds, and said the principle which should actuate them all in their labor of love was that by their lives they must make known the God-head to those who as yet knew him not.

The Chairman then addressed a few concluding remarks to the meeting. The proceedings terminated with a hymn, after which the Benedictine was pronounced, and the meeting broke up.