THE LATE REV. WM. DREW.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 September 1921, Page 6

THE LATE REV. WM. DREW.

THE FUNERAL SERVICE. The funeral of the late Rev. Wm. Drew took place yesterday morning at Te Henui cemetery, New Plymouth. Prior to rhe burial a short service was held at the Baptist Tabernacle. The service was conducted by the Rev. A. H. Collin* and (here were also on the rostrum the Revs. V/ni. Cannel!, John Nixon, W. ~J. Elliott, O. Blundell and Commandant Middlemiss of the Salvation Army, all of whom took part in the service. Mr. Collins said he had received from the Veh. Archdeacon Evans a most Christian letter expressing regret at his inability, through indisposition, to be present ar the service..

The congregation present represented every denomination in the town.

The church was appropriately draped, and the floral tributes rested on the casket and on the rostrum.

After the singing of the hymns, “O God Our Help” and “Rock of Ages” the Rev. Mr. Collins gave a short address singularly appropriate to such an occasion. He

“We meet under the shadow of a great sorrow, but we also stand in the light of an immortal hope. We sorrow, and it is meet we should, for we have lost a loyal friend, a good citizen, and a faithful miniister of the .Christian evangel—one who was - a simple-hearted and sincere follower of the ! Lord Jesus Christ. Who that knew him I as we were privileged to know him would i grudge us the relief of a passing tear? It lis no pari of the teaching of our Lord to i destroy the lender roots of human feeling i and render us stoical. When JeSus came iio Bethany, though he spoke of the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to (ternal life, his words were jewelled with the tears of his most divine compassion. His tears sane. ~>n and sanctify our own. We sorrow, bm not as those who Lave no hope. Beside the open grave stands One who is the conqueror of death and the Lord of Glory. Through the rain of human grief the light immortal strikes, and the grave itself is spanned with the rainbow of beauty and promise. ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ saith the Lord. ‘He that believeth in me. though he were dead, yet shall he live. Because I live, ye shall live also. . . ”

Mr. Collins then related how on one , memorable morning he had stood on the Swiss side of the St. Gothard tunnel. The wind soughed through the mountain pass; I cold sleet smote the facer like a lash of , ice, and dark clouds rolled in a storm- ; wracked sky. Soon the train was entered ‘ and they shot into the tunnel, and in a | few minutes emerged into the sunlight of j Italy, whore fields were dressed in living ‘ green, and where fragrant lilies were 'plucked in the hand. Continuing, he said: j ' Death is like that; it is a thoroughfare, ; not a terminus; it is a comma, not a full j slop. ‘No shadows yonder, all light and ’song: each day I wonder and sigh: How long shall death me sunder from that I blessed throng?’” ; Concluding the preacher said: “With these great hopes we go to the place of the i sepulchre, and lay ashes to ashes and dust to dust, but we rejoice to know on the authority of Jesus that the spirit of our dear friend lives and loves and serves in I the presence of the Lord.”