DR. SOMERVILLE’S MISSION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5246, 16 January 1878, Page 3

DR. SOMERVILLE’S MISSION.

(From the Auckland Evening Star, Jan. 10.) The Rev. A. N. Somerville, D.D., met the Evangelistic Committee in the large room of the Young Men’s Christian Association yes- ; terday afternoon. There were about twenty gentlemen present, including clergymen of various denominations. The Rev. A. Webb offered up a prayer. Dr. Soraervil'e then addressed the committee. He said that after his sea voyage from Australia he had been charmed with the beautiful sceue y which he observed in this part of the North Island, which reminded him of the Hebrides. He then read from Cor. I. c., 27 and 23 : “ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighiy ; and base things of the world, .and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are,” In illustrating his text, he compared God’s army on earth to a number of columns arranged in order of battle. He explained the circumstances under which he was chosen to enter upon his. present mission. After travelling all through India, and visiting Canada and Africa, it was thought by his friends at home that the remaining years of his life, and naturally they must be few, could be better spent iu laboring in a wider sphere than in hammering away at the same anvil at which he had worked in his own parish, Glasgow, for a period of forty years. He had seen many vicissitudes iu his own parish, and having reached a ripe age he felt that it was in his power to render aid and to work in the cause of Christ. He had resigned liis own charge at the wish of his friends, and had come out to the ends of the earth. His primary object was not to bring in sinners from outside. What he deemed to be most necessary was to vitalize the torpid church itself. He had a grand and powerful organisation in the various churches, but they needed arousing to the grand work before them. Though he did not personally abandon any of the tenets of the Church iu which ho had spend almost a lifetime, his method as an evangelist was entirely undenominational. His desire was to unite the various denomiuations in the labor of Christianity, so that they might work with one common object -the spread of a love of the Saviour. At t'u same time this united work would not interfere in any way with the denominational tenets and separate organisations. Ho hoped to soo all the denominations prosper, ami grow more numerous. But the undenominational system was necessary in his evangelistic mission, in order to arouse general interest in his work, and to infuse harmony and Christian sentiments amongst his hearers. At many of his meetings in Australia he had been much comforted at the brotherly harmony that was manifested by ministers and members of every denomination. He desired to secure the hearty co-operation of all clergymen, .without which his mission could not succeed. Ho hoped they would be present with him at his meetings, and though they might not be called upon to speak, yet their countenance and aid would have the effect of at- ; traoting large numbers of their congregations. Where the various denominations were isolated from each other, swaying to and fro and contending, they could not do such effective work as by drawing together and laboring . in a common cause the bringing souls ‘to Christ. He trusted that,, with the, cooperation of clergymen of all denominations, ho would meet with such success in Auckland as would ensure general success throughout the colony. In his work ho recog. nised "prayer as . the great foundation. He, did nothing without prayer, and ho had found, that wherever his midday meetings wore most numerously attended his general success was greatest. The., characteristics of his meetings were punctuality,life, variety, brevity,; point, promptitude, and joy. In his pi caching he would nut undertake to confine himself to rigid routine, aud he warned them that they need not be surprised if he had recourse to methods of arousing the attention of his audiences which might not he _ proper in the ordinary pulpits. The exercises at his meetings consisted of prayer, sacred song, exposition of Scripture, reading, and offering written requests for prayer and thanks-

giving, : brief remarks, and notices of incidents'' connected with Christian life and work at home and abroad. At the same time rigid routine in the procedure was carefully guarded against. With regard to . the singing, they adopted Moody and Sankey’s hymns, which were, ready to their hand and suitable to a mixed congregation,' No one , could entertain a higher respect for psalm singing than himself, lout in many of the congregations it was unknown, whereas Moody and Sankey’s hymns were so generally known aud appreciated that they were best suited for his purposes. The singing was led by a select choir, aud the chief characteristics of the singing were distinct articulation and precision. Sacred song was praise of God, and they desired to speak to the hearts of the people through the hymns. They relied very much on amplynotifying theirraeetingsandproceedings. There was nothing like speaking to the people through' posters and circulars, and the fullest publication should be given to notifications of intended meeting. Though he always welcomed children to the meetings, and had found in many places that the little ones had come in large numbers, lie preferred to hold a meeting exclusively for them, and with this view a special meeting for children would be held on Saturday, On Sunday morning at eight o’clock he- would hold a meeting for young man, who would be invited by circular to attoud, aud ho desired particularly. to enlist the sympathies of young men in the work. Prayer meetings would be held daily from noon to one o’clock, and the first evening meeting would take place at half-past seven o’clock on Thursday in the theatre. He left it to the committee to decide as to whether or not he should preach on Sunday afternoon at three o’clock between the ordinary church services, which lie had made it a rule not to interfere with ; nor did he de-fire to interrupt the course of the Sabbath schools. He would impress upon the committee the desirability of abstaining from replying to any criticisms in the Press. He had made a resolution on leaving Glasgow not to enter into a controversy iu the newspapers, whatever might be published respecting himself. Many persons would be unfriendly to bis mission, and there were some newspapers. which were hostile to him, but generally the Press had treat'd him fairly. Since his arrival in Auckland his attention had been called to a letter in the Australasian, founded on something that had appeared in a Brisbane paper. He bad not seen the original article, but, so far as lie could judge from the second article, it must contain gross misrepresentations of facts, and invention of occurrences which had never taken place. He trusted, however, that none ot his friends would notice anything hostile that appeared in print. The doctor then proceeded to explain at length the procedure adopted at his meetings. He believed that he could accomplish hia mission in Auckland by Monday week, when he would proceed South, and he trusted that by united effort they would be able to do good work in thn bit"-—al.