THE REV. MR SIMMONS ON THE CHURCHES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Southland Times, Issue 741, 25 October 1867, Page 2

THE REV. MR SIMMONS ON THE CHURCHES IN NEW ZEALAND.

(Froxßiihs: Ocmaru Times.) ' It is not often that.the" journalist is -called upon to abandon the moVe ligitimate sphere of V' his labors and to take part id any re?igidu*s^ controversy, and it is only under very exceptional circumstances that we break through the ordinary rule of journalism' and' enter the arenaof theological disput ition. But the letter of the Rev. F. 0. Simmons, is of so extraordinary a nature as to demand some notice at our hands. It is an unfortunate, circumstance, particularly for the . -writer. jof -the -letter- referred- to, that it- should ~ have appeared in print. The letter itself bear*; internal evidence that it was intended to be a pHvate communication ; but,, haying been rub- : lished at Home and copied into the Colonial press, it now becomes public property, and is [ fair'matter of journalistic comment. i A more uncharitable and unjust effusion we npver read, and the only negative merit to which Mr Simmons can lay claim is, in our opinion, tne circumstance thafc he has not been partial in his animadversions, "but has abused everybody -alike. Mr Simmons appears in the new character of Censor- Q-eneral of the Churches in New Zealand, ' and conveys to a Bishop in Scotland what purports to be a truthful account of the state and 4 condition of those Churches, the qualifications and conduct of their respective pastors, and the spiritual condition of the laity. Nbw, Mr Simmons has- an undoubted right to his private opinion upon these matters, and also an equally unquestionable right to make known as! widely as he pleases that opinion ; but, when 4 Mr Simmons, as in the letter before us, puts the matter before the public, not simply as one of individual opinionj but as a question, of fact — when he says that such and such things are the case— then.it is incumbent upon him to prove his assertions, and it is the duty of all .wlio believe the contrary to refute those statements and to expose his misrepresentations. Mr Simmons commences with the Presbyterians, and says that • althongh " they have clergy everywhere throughout ithe Province wliere it could reasonably be expsctei that a clergyman should be posted, . . ■ . . they not oniy fail to' take aliens into the fold, but they have also lost all that influence over their own people, which is so unquestionable in Scotland, and makes it the most priest-ridden country my . experience Has made me acquainted with." What does Mr Simmons mean by the first portion of this singularly inconsistent sentence ? Dogs he -mean by the term " aliens "-persons who do not make a profession of Christianity, or persons who do not .belong to the Presbyterian : Church P If the former, it is simply tantamount to saying^ thaV tEe clergy of the Presbyterian Church labor without result,: and that in their case the ;pr .'aching of ..the— gospel is of none effect. IfMrj Simmons meansftliis, then all ,we can say is, 1 that the voiced of the whole ' Church in thi3 ,is.,,a »nst him; and that Mr^ Simmons can know very little of the Church abojut^ which he, writes, or he would not .venture "on the assertion which he has made. If Mr .Simmons, . 'however, i .means the latter, then we conceive the assertion simply amounts to the statement that the ; Presbyfcerian Church in Otago . •is notaciive in endeavoring to make proselytes of members of other, denominations, merely confining, itself to its proper sphere of labor in the; preaching of the gosp.-l, than which no man could write higher praise. As tcytho second .part of the sentence "that the Presbyterian .Clergy have lost all influence over the people," it U simply incorrect, and we- point to numerous flourishing Churches in which the relation between "pastor and people is veiry* different to the disunion and coldness which Mr Simmons implies in proof of our assertion. But the inconsistency of Mr Simmons' argument is more remarkable than the incorrectness of his statements. *gs. If his argument is intended to prove anything, it must be this — Presbyterian Scotland is the most priest-ridden country his experience has made him acquainted with ; the Presbyterian Church in this Province is richly endowed by the State ; the Colony is nevertheless not " priest-ridden " — ergo, Presbyterianism is a failure. Yet Presbyterianism, according to Mr Simmons, " the dryest, narrowest, least humane of all religions," is the best thing to be got in the ; P : rovince,'/for he tells us " there is unfortunately nothing better to replace it." Mr Simmons next proceeds to dispose of the Anglican Church in the same summary manner. The regular, clergy, according to his statements, are a set of lazy db-tiothihgs, Mr Simmons an- . nouncing that among all the Anglican clergyman in the Province thera is one . energetic man who does something, and, therefore, by implica- * tion suggesting that all the others are* unenergetic and doing nothing ;" and the lay-readers, according to the same authority, are, though as he is kind enough to believe, " good men," of very little, if any use; Mr Simmons also informs the Bishop that the Church is .." dying rapidly " here which is an idea that must have h~ad its origin in a fertile imagination, for evidenco is certainly wanting of a moribund tendency in the Anglican Church ; on the contrary the new churches, which . I have only recently been built, or are in course of i erection being direct proof of an opposite Btate of things.. . . Of the Wesleyans, Mr Simmons has a some-' what better opinion, though he announces that "their action is on a limited scale," there is scarcely a township in the Province, or,, more, of the Colony, where their chapels are not to be found. As to their numbers being "small " in comparison with the population, Mr Simmons is again in error, and in saying that " their success is greater than their means warrant you in expecting ; " and adding, in explanation of. this we suppose, that "their periodic peristaltic preachers are rare," Me Simmons forgets that : much of the success of Wesleyaniam ia attributable to the earnest and 6elf- denying labors of a large body of lay-agents, called in the Society local preachers. ■ ■ ■ •■ • *?■ The Roman Catholic, againii although better spoken of by Mr Simmons , than is the Presbyterian or Anglican Church, i 3, according* to that gentleman, ministered to either by French priests, who " are ill : adapted for such a place," or by; lrish priests, who "are not of the 'best; ;' in what respect ? evidently in intelligence and education ;. for Mr Simmons, we presume, does not mean his "not of the best " to apply to their mor<i| character. But we do not find more fault with Mr Simmons' statements than with the whole tone . and spirit of his letter and the language in which he expresses his ideas; the one being utterly -uncharitable, and the: other, to say the least ; lof it flippant and .unclerical.. Had Mr Simmons, in his letter to the Bishop, after representing that in his opinion the Province was in a ;;Bi"ate of great spiritual destitution, appealed to him as a man of God to send out earnest-hearted laborers Into the field to work for the salvation of souls, we, while | not agreeing -with him that our present organ- '• iifttiona are not sufficient for, the work, should.

nevertheless have admired him for endeavoring to the most important interests of the people; but when it appears that the earnest men whom Mr Simmons wishes to see here are to be men whose highest possible aim is to be t^e buiiJing of a cathedral or the founding of an abbey, we-look uponhis letter with very difiertnt feeiings. We also .detect in this remarkable elusion a strong leaning towards papistical views, ■ convents and friars being, in Mr Simmons opinions, great desiderata; although it is difficult to ascertain with any exactness what Mr Simmons believes, as his mind seems to lean all ways at once, like a bed of rushes, and he hardly advances an opinion without apologising for it, and afterwards qualify ing it to such an extent as to contradict himself. To wit. Mr Simmons evidently thinks (herein putting his opinion against that of our best divines) that a wife and children and a cosy home unfit a clergyman for his work, because *' his thoughts must be with them," yet he does not think it would be wise "for a man fo come out here with professed celibacy." Mr Simmons would have our preachers " not wedded to system," and, it would appear, favors the introduction of clergymen of no particular profession, a species of wandering apostle belonging to no recognised church and whose practices and doctrines are to be a matter of indifference. There is no necessity, either, for clerical garb — a pea jacket and digger's boots, with a leather girdle instead of braces, being Mr Simmons' beau ideal of the vestment appropriate. Mr Sjinfous, too, is guilty of the suggestio falsi and the suppressio veri. "Writing of Cantertury, he says — " There is a quasi parsonage established everywhere where you could reasonably expect it." What is this word " quasi" introduced for into the sentence, but to mar the effect of the simple announcement of the fact that there is a parsonage estabHshed everywhere where there is need of a resident clergyman, which it woxild not have suited Mr Simmons' purpose to say, because it would have gone to prove the exact reverse of his statement of the decadence of the Anglican Church. Writing of the West Coast, he say3:— "With a population of 30,000 or 40,000. whose spiritual wants are supplied by flying visits from Bishops (Eoman and English), American Methodists, Baptists, and I know not what," suppressing the fact, which lie either was or ought to have been aware of, that . at the very time of penning bis . letter, steps had been taken by three of the Churches which he names to furnish the West Coast with a stated ministry. As to his remark that a small proportion of the digging population are foreigners of such mixed nationaHty " as has never been seen since Babel," it is simply an evidence that Mr Simmons can have very little idea of the number of foreigners entering into the composition of the population of many European cities, or he would never have made such an assertion. Mr Simmons charges the Anglican Clergy with " gaudy refinement," whatever the expression may mean, and" takes the opportunity to. convey a sinister insinuation with regard to the Presbyterians, who are not only said to be "minus refinement but phis you know what." This is worse than a direct statement, which is open to refutation, and is simply a stab in the dark. Mr Simnionds also wishes_to~know " what a layman, working at hia secular work six days, reading prayers and reading sermons on the - seventh, is likely to-do ? -We will answer his question : always premising that he be a Godfearing and earnest man, he is likely to do a great deal of good, and oftentimes perhaps as much as a regular clergyman, and will at least be the means of keeping the people in the habit of attendance upon the means of grace ; and we consider that such enunciations as those of Mr Simmonds' are calculated to do a great deal of harm by discouraging those men who, in the capacity of lay-readers, have done and are doing good service in the outlying districts, and among widely-scattered and sparse populations. That Mr Simmons is flippant and unclerical in the language ?n which he clothes his thoughts, let his " Ignatius business" and the following sentence suffice to show: — "Here we have a man who reads prayers, preaches, and does (sic) baptisms, burials, and marriages." But we stay our pen, as we have already exceeded our usual limits, and will only repeat that it is a matter for regret that the letter of Mr Simmons' ever found its way into the public press, as it will lead people at Home to take a very false and incorrect view of the state of religion in this Province and in tKe Colony ; but, having been published, it becomes our duty, so far as we may, to disabuse the public I mind of that false impression — although to the thinking man Mr Simmons' letter in many points contains its own refutation. Mr Simmons may, however, congratulate himself upon having created a profound sensation, and having acquired a species of celebrity ; although, like Colonel Weare, whose letters Home conveyed equally unfounded and unjust statements with regard to the conduct of the Government and the Colonial Forces, he will probably find that that celebrity is not of the most comfortable and satisfactory kind. ______^_______