BIBLE RESEARCH. A HOMELESS SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 3

BIBLE RESEARCH. A HOMELESS SOCIETY.

"COME TO THE FOUNTAIN." The meeting of the Bible Research Society on Sunday afternoon at the Chess* j Club Rooms was jn many re-peccs unique.,, For instance, never before has it baeiV' 1 necessary for tw6 constables in uniform to. Ibe present at a Scripture meeting. The room and stairhead were crowded with aa , expectant and very determined multitude, ' and seated alone at a table poring over* , a book, heedless apparently -of all save the printed page, Bat- Mr James Neil, the I '" expelled " chairman. I Suddenly Mr Stevo Boi-ehain's voice was heard calling on those near the door to j "make way for the rabbi."' They made way for the rabbi, who came in, andl ' several looked rather . uneasily at each ' «rt'her, as though a new and more com-, plicated element was about to ba imported* into the matter. Th« rabbi's mission'was, however, not theoloarioal. As a mem«j ber of the Chess Club Committee he had)oome to see to the safety of the and effects. There was a whispered- consultation in an inner room, after which' Mr Boroh-am reappeared and announced : j '• We find that Mr lyeil has got bsforo us, and after a consultation we propose that after what has talc-en place the members of the Bible Research Society leave the room." — (Applause.) '"'Come to .tho> Fountain," cried Mr Boreham. " Nexa Sunday other "arrangements will have besnr made. -Meanwhile, to the "Fountain *11'| those who wieh to listen to .jne. These who wish to hear 'Mr- Neil preach his par- 1 ticuler, peculiar tenets may stay here."-' i'he crowd went surging down the stair?, and soon Mr Neil, etill poring over his book, was left alone with only a few peopfo beforo him. Mr Boreliam's address at the Fountain was impassioned and charactsrist'e. It was levelled at quite a number ol things, but mainly against a particular geittleinan. For the binefit of 'the uninitiated ho w.-n"} into the difference- which had arissn between tlie society and its chairman-- a chairman,. -he said, who had been expell-vi. by the society 'for acting the tyrant. M • Boreham went on to state that the work » of Blatchford, Paine, and other literature 'their ex-chairuan" objected to had been the means of lifting the working man from that gutter into which he had bean thrust by a capitalistic system. Mr Neil, however, had put a ban upon what Mr Rawson should or should not sell, and b;cau*e the latter declined to stuff his window with -certain literature he was to be "' bumpsdt out " into the* street and the BankruptcyCourt. " I tell you, friends, 1 ' continuedMr Boroham impressively, " that ' if your late chairman had been in the temple with the money-changer*, and they that sold doves, he too f would have be»m bumped out on hi* rtapper." — (Lighter.) Mr Boreham objected to Christians bsing dragged in the dust by dabblers in the Bible. Having repeatedly stated that he had said- enough, the epotke) as of tern proceeded to • say much more* 'i'he cherished idols of capital ivere all shattered 1 by hjs iconoclastic rhetoric;. the^-gentleman referred to wa« pil'.ori{ed in every" possibleway; ' 'invective, denunciation, And uricl&ssical . quotation fizzled and .' banged among' the' ■ audience - like packets o* orackew, .and the people' laughed conmiinedly.- Ani-jiDnoußc&nant that^jm indignation meeting would be held in tha Early Settlers' .Hall on Wednesday evening concluded tfiis address. Others followed.