CHURCH AND CLIMATE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 1, 25 November 1916, Page 2

CHURCH AND CLIMATE.

A PRESBYTERIAN PRONOUNCEMENT. On the debate on the statistical report before the Presbyterian General Assembly, the Rev. J. R. Shore said that, while not knowing why it was, it was an established fact that a Presbyterian from the south, settling in the North Island, did not, as a rule, remain so good a Presbyterian as he was in the Spjifch. Away from those early influences and associations which were so supporting, a man coming north was apt to lose his zeal for the Church, and become more lax in Christian observances. In the case of the-settler on the land, lie probably had to work harder to establish himself, and away from the fine churches of the South, and without the good preachers that be had probably been used to, ho found the service in a whare and the efforts of a young lay preacher not much to his liking. Then the temperatures were higher in the North Island, and the temptation to sleep during the sermon was greater than it was in the South. For these reasons it was lamentable that their church membership was not as great in the North Island as it might be, and many good Presbyterians from the South became less zealous and careless over their church duties than formerly.