PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5215, 8 December 1877, Page 3

PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Friday, December 7. The Assembly met at the Provincial Council Hall at 11 a.m., and was constituted with praise, reading of the Scriptures, aud prayer, by the Moderator. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The first hour was then devoted to religious exercises. The report of the committee on bills, overtures, &■■'., was then called for, and was read by the Rev. R, J. Allsworth, convener, and approved of. The Business Committee's report was then read bv the Rev. Mr. Hill and agreed to. The'Rev. Mr. Bruce submitted the following minute anent the death of the Rev. W. S. McGowan :—The Assembly resolved to enter on their record an expression of their great sorrow at the removal from amongst his brethren of the late Rev. Mr. S. McGowan, one of the former Moderators of the Church, and their genuine sympathy with the family of the deceased under the trying dispensation which, in His mysterious but wise aud loving providence, God has seen it meet to visit them with ; and instructed the clerk to forward to the bereaved an extract of this resolution, which was unanimously ogreed to. On the motion of the Rev. Mr. Paterson, it was agreed that the sittings of the Assembly shall be from eleven to three, and at seven in the evening. The Rev. Mr. Sheriff, in the absence of the convener (Mr. McKinney), read the report on " Reading of Special Papers" before the Assembly at its annual meetings. .After considerable discussion, in which the Revs. Ross, Hill, and Treadwell, took part, a committee, consisting of the Revs, the exModerator, Treadwell, Somerville, Ross, and Hill, was appointed, to consider the whole subject, and report to a subsequent sederunt. The report anent " Rules and Forms of Procedure" was read by the Rev. Mr. Bruce, the convener, which report recommended that the Assembly should continue to use the rules, &c, of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria —(said rules being very carefully revised and enlarged)—as the interim rules of this Church, with a recommendation that each minister should secure a copy, and thoroughly study the same ; also make himself acquainted with other rules, &c, of the sister Church of Otago, prior to the adoption and printing of rules specially for the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. On the motion of the Rev. R. J. Allsworth, the report was unanimously adopted. The Assembly then called for the reports of Presbyteries anent the alteration of the time for the annual meeting of the Assembly. The majority were found to be in favor of a change. The Rev. Mr. McKee moved that the month of March shall be the time for the meeting of the Assembly. This was seconded by Mr. Lamb. The Rev. Mr. Shehiff moved an amendment, that the said alteration of the time, together with the alteration of the termination of the financial year, should be sent down as a remit to presbyteries and kirk sessions. This was seconded by the Rev. Mr. Allswortii, and after considerable discussion, in which the Revs. Paterson, Cree, Sheriff, and Messrs. McLean and Lamb took part, the Assembly decided in favor of the motion by a large majority. The report of the committee anent " Presbyterial Visitation" was read by the Rev. Mr. Somerville, who moved the adoption of the report pro forma, and that the Assembly resolve itself into committee of the whole house for the consideration of this important report; but before the whole was disposed of the hour of adjournment arrived, and after the intimation of the business to be taken up at the evening sederunt, the Assembly adjourned, to meet again at 7 p.m. The Moderator then pronounced the benediction. The Moderator constituted the Assembly at 7 p.m. by praise and prayer. The minutes of the morning sederunt were read and confirmed. The Rev. J. Treadwell moved, without previous no';ice, —That the thanks of the Assembly be given to the ex-Moderator for his very excellent sermon at the opening of the Assembly.—This having been seconded by the Rev. J. Dodll, was unanimously agreed to. The Assembly called for the report of the committee on temperance, which was read by the Rev. W. Sheriff, in the absence of the conveuer. The Rev. Mr. McKee, in moving the adaption of the report, alluded to the evils of intemperance. He held that the evils were special, and that special efforts must be put forth to counteract them. He knew of nothing that could be more efficacious than if the ministry to a man were to abstain from countenancing the drinking customs in every way possible. Mr. Lamb, of Auckland, supported the motion before the house with the utmost cordiality. The highest medical authority in the world was against the use of alcohol. Two ounces and a half of alcohol taken in a day diminished the term of life in the case of those who used it one year in ten. This evil was found in the halls of the wealthy as well as in the hovels of the poor, and if something were not done by the country to oppose it, the iniquity of those who used alcohol when nursing their children would be visited or. after generations. The Home Churches were beginning to do their duty by opposing the encroachments of this evil, and it was of the utmost importance that the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand should come to the front in the same warfare in our young colony. Mr. McLean dwelt upon the difference between the tables of mortality in the case of the abstaining and non-abstaining societies aud insurance companies, and alluded to the Rechabites and Odd Fellows as an illustration of the case in hand, the death-rate of the former being thirteen in the thousand, whilst that of the latter, a non-abstaining society, was twenty-one in the thousand. The Rev. Mr. Eraser, of Waipukurau, observed that the evil was sapping the foundations of society both at home and abroad. He was struck with the large number of young men who on arrival in this country had to live in hotels, and were exposed to the temptations of the billiard-room and other similar amusements, which terminated in repairing to the bar of the public-house, and for the most part becoming drunkards. The great question was how to meet this gigantic evil. Many held thot abstinence from intoxicating drinks was a sacrifice, but he found it otherwise. He assorted that he himself could do double the amount of work when he abstained altogether from the use of stimulants and drank water only. It would increase very much the influence of ministers for good that they should entirely abstain from the use of intoxicating drinks. The Rev. Mr. Ross felt that strong drink was more than equal to all our strong arguments or statistics. The fact was, the people liked it and would have it. He urged the desirableness and necessity of agreeing on some lino of action, and go forward. As we thus went forward the way would become plain and we should gather strength, the struggle would bo more concentrated, aud the goal would be soon reached. It might bo that we conld not, perhaps ought not to seek with one ssveep to put an end to the public-house traffic. The Canaanites, though doomed by Heaven to extinction, were not to be cut off at once, lest the beasts of the field should so multiply around Israel as to take .the place of their foes; and so it might not bo desirable, even were it practicable, to sweep away at once the public-house system as a whole. The one thing he (Mr. Rosa) would insist upon was unity of action —and were that the case he doubted not they would become " terrible as an army with banners" in their struggles against this evil. The Rev. C. Ogg said that there were somo people who had a propensity to drink, and the lino could be drawn between those who had and those who had not this propensity. He maintained that magistrates and others failed in their duty with regard to the suppression of tins evil, and so long as they (the magistrates) closed their eyes and dealt lightly witli the matter, it would still increase, and ho (Mr. , Ogg) felt assured that whatever measures were j adopted there would be men found who would '

drink on and onto the end of the world. He did not deem the Permissive Bill a practical and effective measure. The General Assembly of New Zealand had no intention whatever of passing the Permissive Bill—their whole course 1 was a sham, and they passed it only as they did in order to strangle it afterwards in committee. He was persuaded that there were gentlemen in the House of Representatives as anxious to deal with the evil as the members of this Assembly. He propsed to cut off the billiardroom from public-houses, to prevent those who were in the habit of getting drunk from getting drink at public-house 3, and to have a police of a reliable character. He further proposed that ministers, instead of preaching upon the subject one Sabbath in each year, should do so for a whole month, and exchange pulpits with one another in order to accomplish this. The Rev. Mr. Treadwell, of Wanganui, said that he had listened with very great pleasure to the speeches delivered, especially that of Mr. Frnser. He agreed with some things advanced by Mr. Ogg, but with others he totally disagreed. As to Mr. Ogg's remarks upon the Permissive Bill, he would simply ask were they not all taxed for the consequences of the drinking customs? Evenon thislowground it was after all a question for the people. Mr. Tieadwell held that Mr. Ogg was illogical in some of his statements. He maintained that if by the use of strong drink he led others to the point of danger, then he (Mr. Ogg) was bound to abstain. He desired to come to a much more decided conclusion than was implied by the motion of Mr. McKee. He would go to the root of the matter, and deal with the young. He felt satisfied that if they could but lay hold of the whole youth of the colony, and train them up as total abstainers, they would dry up the very resources of the public-houses at the fountain head. Mr. McArdle said there was one feature that was lost sight of, viz., that the drinking customs and traffic were surrounded by the strongest influences. The greatest men—lawyers, legislators, &c.—were found maintaining and supporting the custom. It was therefore natural for those under them to copy their example. He believed that much could be done by dealiug with the young. If the matter were taken up as it ought to be by the Church, the Press would then take it up, and the Legislature would inevitably follow aud effectually deal with this evil. The Rev. R. J. Allsworth could not let the discussion close without bearing his testimony to the importance of the subject. From the many cases of painful discipline in the Church whicli he had known in this colony and the colony of Victoria, he was compelled to feel the importance of the matter. He said that strong drink and the drinking customs of this age were among the mightiest hindrances to the progress of religion and morality, and that the establishment of temperance societies for adults, and baud of hope societies for the young, were instrumentalities to be employed to counteract the mighty evil. He held that ministers should lead by their own example. Mr. Smith expressed the greatest pleasure at the discussion that had taken place. He had never listened to a discussion in their Assembly on that subject before with so much interest. He considered the voice of the Church to be the pulpit, and he hoped the time would come when every minister would come forward and give no uncertain sound on this important matter. The Rev: Mr. Brcce would now suggest that the di.scus3ion should come to a close. The committee were armed with sufficient power to do anything they deemed desirable in the case of legislative action, and other important subjects were needingtheir attention. The Rev. Mr. Treadwell felt that they must go further than was implied in the motion before the house. He proposed a motion on the subject. The Rev. Mr. Paterson seconded it, and in doing so said he could not help contrasting the progress they had made in this matter ; the difference there was between the discussion of that evening and those of former occasions. The subject in hand was then rather coolly received. He did not think that the drinking habits of this colony were so bad as in the Home country; but at the same time they were such that they must put forward the most energetic efforts to arrest the progress of such a mighty and growing evil. He had a growing conviction that the influence of the ministry was very great in this matter, and for his own part he did not think there was any sacrifice at all in abstaining, aud he was convinced that their influence would be increased by taking such a course, and the less the drinking customs were countenanced by them the better, and he meant to act upon that conviction in the future. Mr. Paterson concluded by giving his consent to the proposals to influence the young in the direction of total abstinence. He was delighted at the progress they as an Assembly had made in that direction. At this stage objectiou was made to Mr. Treadwell's motion by the Rev. D. Bruce and the Rev. Mr. Cree, as being far too stringent in its wording. After very keen .discussion, in which almost all the members took part, some verbal modifications were made in two clauses of the motion, when it was passed unanimously in thefollowing form (Mr. McKee's motion having been previously withdrawn) : " That the report be adopted, and the thanks of the Assembly be recorded to the committee, and especially to the convener ; that the committee be re-appointed to watch over the matter, it being left to them to take, as representing the Assembly, any right step in support of any good piece of legislation which may be introduced into the Houses of Parliament ; that the ministers of the Church be required to preach on some Sabbath in the month of February on the evils existing in connection with the drinking customs, and be recommended topromote temperance principles among the young people of their congregations ; that in the pastoral address of the Assembly, should it be issued, the attention of the people of the Church be drawn to the evils of the use of wine at baptisms, funerals, &c.; and further, that the Assembly do bring before the ministers of the Church the question of what further steps they should take to meet this crying evil." The report on Sabbath-schools was then called for, but the subject was adjourned. The Rev. J. Treadwell gave notice of the following motions for Monday : —l. That the Assembly do issue a pastoral address, and that a committee consisting of the Revs. J. Paterson, C. Ogg, James Doull, and J. Treadwell be appointed to draw up aud submit the same for the approval of the Assemby. 2. That a committee consisting of the Revs. J. Paterson, R. J. Allsworth, James Doull, John Ross, and William Sheriff (J. Paterson convener) be appointed to prepare and draw up a short exposition of Presbyterianism for distribution among the people of the Church. The following is the business for to-day (Saturday):—Schedule for Presbyterial visitations; overture from Presbytery of Wellington on lotteries, and report of committee on church property. The Assembly closed with prayer.