CHURCH IN EARLY DAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1916, Page 4

CHURCH IN EARLY DAYS.

WORK OF WEST.EYAK MISSION ARIES. WHITELEY AND THE MAURIS. SKK\-|s.'KS AT NEW PLYMOUTH. The seventy-fifth anniversary of tl» commemoration of missionary work ii New 'Plymouth by the Wesleyan Method--Ist Church was marked 'by special sei vices ut tlio Whiteley Memorial Clmrcl yesterday. It was seventy-five years las, 1' ridny since the Rev. Charles Creed land' 011 ' ,cae ' l At Moturou from tin lriton," and made his home ntnoui tlie natives and the whalers who pie ceded the lirst immigrants. The day ialso the centenary of the birth of'tin Lev. Robert Ward, New Zealand's firsPrimitive Methodist minister, who b«:gm in New Plymouth the colonial enterprisi of his denomination, The llev. T. «• Hammond, superintendent of the .We.-, Coast Maori Mission, prea.hed in the morning on "John Whitelev, a man sent from God, while the evening service was taken by the Kev. A. B. Chiippell. There was a parade of Veterans in (he morning, and they mustered in strong force. In opening his sermon in the morning the Rev. T. <5. Hammond addressed his remarks to the Veterans, and said that lir would never bo disloval to the Maoris, because tlicy had been' vcrv loval to him. What the Maoris hud' don# had been of great service to the conn, try, but if tliey had prevailed after the hostilities it would have been disastrous both for the Maoris and for the Europeaus. The preaeher described Whitelev as a man "sent of God," and said that lie was a product of a certain time in the •history of the Methodist Church in England. He also referred to a number of the missionaries who had runic out from Home to assist Whiteley in hi* splendid work. These men came forward hi do missionary work for the Church. M as the parent Church in England had been making 'considerable sacrifices for missions. Samuel Leigh had arrived Homo heart-broken because of the awful condition of the natives in New Zealand, and he had urged the missionary coinmittee to send out missionaries, but owing to a large deficit in the'r funds they were unable to do so. I.eigli then went throughout Great Britain and appealed for contributions, and the people responded so well that the Church was able to send missionaries to New Zealand. The men "sent of God," the preacher added, were not always men who had been ordained, and there was encouragement for laymen to be found in the fact that a great deal of the best work that was done in New Zealand was done by men who had no ordination. That John Whiteley was a man eminently sent of God was evidenced by the holiness of his life, hy his devotion to his ministry, by his large-heartodness, and by what lie was able to accomplish. Mr. Hammond referred to iWhitele.v'a publication in the Maori language of "Kongomau," which was a dellverame on the causes'of war, the evils of war, and the benefits of peace. He believed that Whiteley liad done perhaps more than any other man in the cause of peace, and it was really his deatlt which brought to an end the hostilities betweenthe Maoris and Europeans. At the evening service the Itev A. 11. Chappcll gave a survey of church'event* which had transpired' since the landing of the Rev. Charles Creed at New Ply month on January 14, 1841. The work of Mr. Creed amongst the natives ami the early settlers remained as a tribute to his kindness, while, in addition tc building the earliest places of wor.oiiu in the district, he had been responsible for acquiring the present site of t>'r Whitelev Memorial Church. Mr. Creed'*. Ministry was one of outstanding successes. The preacher then referred t'i the centenary of the Rev. Robert Ward

and dwelt on his arrival here and hi« open-air service at the JTuatoki bridge in 1844, his acceptance of a pastorate ol the Bible Christian Chapel, his buildiri" of the Hemti church and parsonage. lil« work amongst the Maoris, and his subsequent ministry here after an absence in Auckland. Mr. Chapped made Interesting quotations from Air. Ward's diary which gave glimpses of the enterprise and Christian fellowship in New Plymouth's early days. The sympathy then existing between the Wesleyans and tin 'Primitive Methodists was stressed. Mr Chappell also rend an interesting let lei written by the llev. William Holland, oi the Church of England, on dune 14, ISH, expressing his open-hearted appreciation of the Wcvleyan missionaries. Thes> peeps into the past, concluded tin preacher, brought a call for 10-da,, -a call for Christian brotherliness anil enterprise.