PRESBYTERY MEETING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1500, 16 October 1886, Page 4

PRESBYTERY MEETING.

A, tneeting of the Presbytery was held at the Presbyterian Church ( op, Tuesday afternoon. In the evening a meeting of the members and adherents of the Church was held for the purpose of hearing .the. finding of, the ..Presbytery read ‘ Wbr. Thefe' Vad a fair' attendance. The Rev. W- White, Moderator of the Presbytery, occupied the chair. The Revs,- (GiHies, , McKee,,andi Taylor, and Mr were amoogi-t^P.lgpiker^;! ; - The n^e^tingjv.as, openea - witn ‘execcipep.,.. White then called onGillie’s to read the finding of the Presbytery. M Mr Gillies explained the object of the Presbytery,meeting. The Presbytery had been appointed for the purpose Of ascertaining fortfiemselvas the. state of matters generally,, in congregations. ,within the' bounds, andfor this purpose they visited each congregation once in three, years. It had now corns, to Geraldine's.turn,,and. by a series-,of questions they,had (ascertained pretty fully the state of matters existing "iff the and the Presbytery ha4,Ccpnip - to', cision contained in the following report : That the Presbytery express its pleasure at meeting with the minister and representatives of the Geraldine session and managing Committee, (wrtll the and generally satisfactory answers “given fo the " qdeslieps put them; express its sympathy with the minister and office-bearers in the i difficulties; arising out of She large and scattered nature of the parish and the unsuitable position of the Church buildings; would earnestly recoxnmeqd that an effort, be inside to erect .a Church on the site in the township belonging to the congregation, a*d bringing of the manse into Closer proximity witß’ 1 ttfe'Ofrdrottj‘record its appreciation of the efforts made my the minister and office-bearers to maintain services and Sabbath schools in the many districts of" the Parish ; commend to the congregation the taking of a deeper interest in the cause; of missions, and the forming "’of associations, for the* purpose of giving information and collectingimproved! istaie of spin ual' lifel-myite' more earnest prayer and co-operation on the part of all connected with the congregation, and, finally, the Presbytery invoke.the blessing of the Great Head of the Church upon m ‘ n,s * ters, office-bearers, and people. ; v

]V|r White then addressed!, the meeting.' He saidJhere were soma subjects which he would not speak upon, as there were other persons who would address-them. He would like, hoffqye,tf,jto2efex£td. one thing, the question of districts. They had a largo parish here in Geraldine, and that meant so many districts here and there. He hoped these several; districts' were represented at that meetipg. , He temitided - those ptda'eiit thalt aP - these various districts should’'strive ! for 1 the general welfare of the’ church.' ’’All their efforts should be made tt’th*i 4 dmglef‘(lye to God's glory, and to do this brotherly love pusti prevail.; A; church Members differed from eyfiry other organisation in the world in the fact that what was the advantage, of,one was the advantage of all, and therefore all 'should rejdibe ’ whdb they' saw* one' brother excelling in church matters. Therefore he said let brotherly love [prevail. If -they wished to excel in any direction they must pray for one another?; Prayer for one another and sympathy'dpe for the othar'waS the 1 of-success. , He would almost defy an angel to succeed'if people would waste their time in finding fault one with another. In order that a congregation might gOl'a’AbS yell iih a scattered parish*like he .thought it! 'would be welPfor each district to form itself into a little Committee, with >sf. jpossib’e, one dr* two 1 elders in charge of it. The advantage of anplder having chtrgd of the 'Committee was that the elder came closer to r the miepstpivthan any other, and if satisfaction, etc., ! it'would be very easy for hiraTtp cpudrnupicate i+ to the minister, and sp betweetf-them they could heal the little sore. These little Committees should be nnilerthe control of alargerGom: rai|jte«C¥hiclii should' be Presbytery. “H they* would adopt some such system as this .he was sure everything. .woujd, succeed..... Another . thing was,;there, must be, harmony; in the! congregation. Let there be whole- hearfcedness ,and . utpty, and let there j-bo an earbfrst bond of,syiiipalhy. men could not think ahfi 1 ’see' alike','but* if a brother was.en'deavoring to.do his best'ftor, God as far as his light pointed out to him, 1 he would strongly urge upon them not to find fault (with.him .bepiuse hja; yiewg rlid bet quite ‘ coincide' viijj ;j tbgirs, Ijgt for each m assist the other in the great work in which they were engaged. The Key. Mr McKee , was.thep .cabled updb 7 to ’ addre'ss Hie meeting ‘on the, subjedt of ! bWsiobs r ! M ' ,: ‘ . .<■ Mr McKee sfidke of the very favorable impression which the township of Geraldine, .aq<| its beautiful .eittjroundjngg had impressed upon,him on this the occasion of hisdirsb"visit to the ; fjlade.- ’He also explained,(.the: lobjectuof fho Presbytery in visiting the yarjoqs.CQUgregaiions ftrom .lime..to., time.- Some people, he said, were qndeft;itmpressi.nj that;] when the Preebytery: visited a''congregation there; was ;Bcipethlug. u'ot .qinteiright, a screw loose soma where, 5 and they had come to piquirt? f n to, it. Up could assn re them it was no such thing... They, simply visited each congregation ’ deep up tliree years for, the purpose' bJ! 'asking several questions 1 laid down py and to talk over generally. He was glad to-be able to telllhem that all the questions h.ajd,been anaweredhin a franV and bad passed off most, pl^a^ant|y. ; . He sympathised with Mr ‘ Barclay in his arduous duties io sueb a'large and scattered parish. He thought he bid a large-parish himself, but it was a little compact thing compared to the Geraldine parish. He spoke of the position of the present church, saying, that he.,whs sorry to see they had gone SO fir out of the' way. There could be no doubt| that;,sp Jong .the church Jemsined' ip' its present out of-tho-way lositlod 1 they wpiild not get such large congregations as'they would if the church was more hentrally yitunt d. He was pleased to learn that .there was a moye‘ment oh fdotWthe erection of a church in, a more central ; position,,which movement be hoped would be successful. The subject, pf missions upon which he was to speak was a yeyy Extensive one. It touched the * very deepest chord of Christianity! ; He could not help thinking .while enjoying the beauties of Geraldiog during the day of-lands whfeiethe gospel is never heard, and at once the command of thd Siviohr iciiiiio to his mind “Gdye - into 'all -the ’ wo'rld and preach the gospel *to,every creature.” : Whim they thought,

of tpefiict jihst only 400,000,000 of onr race tjie* gospel and something like 800,000,000 who had not even heard the name of -Christ, what was the cry that came f'd ‘ them V Supposing these figures were not reliable, and they estimated that there were' only three or 'fdiit hundred millions of people who had not heard the gospel, what was the cry that came to them in those places,where they had the gospel apd education and refinement ? Wiry ! the cry was like that from Macedonia, “ Come over, and,'help us.” Mr McKee spoke nf the New Hebrides islands, which were attracting so much attention just, now, and the mission work now’being-carried on thereby the Presbyterians, who. bad missionaries laboring in the islands for now nearly 40 years. He strongly urged the mission .claims upon his hearers. He knew they had a great 'deal'to do for their own church and district, but he also' hoped' that when (lie mission Sunday came round they would be able to spare a good donation toWards sending J ■ the , gospel to the heathen.

IheVllev;.. JMjr• ,Taylor, who next addressed tlie meeting, stated that he was a Congregationalism He ii ad, however, lived for some few' years in China, and waS : deeply interested in tW f, B'uir]ect of missions. Mr Taylor then went on to give an interesting account of ttie.mission work being 'carried onTn China, by the Presbyterians, English, and Wesleyan MissioharySobieties. Mr Taylor’s speech, which was listened to with rapt attention, was enlivened with soma amusing anecdotes of mission life.

Mr Stewart was next; called upon to address those present. Following in the i Wake of the previous speakers he gave the meeting some good sodnd : advice as to their conduct as Church members, and urged upon them to do whatever laj in ther power, to support the cause of the niissiohsi

The:Rev. Mr .Gil Mes, who paipe next, stated he was not an oratorl ike .their, pastor, but was a plain blunt. Scotchman . He said the Presbytery were a few words of counsel and encouragement in the work in which they were engag d. The Presbytery thought the work would be much facilitated and its Usefulness, enlarged if the Church were more centrally situated, When the great Dr Cunningham went upon a mission of the Presbyterian Church in England he was; called upon to give them a few advice. He told them that they ought to make themselves part of the "Visible Ghurcli. His meaning of that was that he found the Presbyterian Church, as k rnle. stuck in some back slreet ? and if ; they wanted to: make' ahy iJrogretis' they must come out wihere the£l could be seen. shis,was i something,the case in Geraldine, ,they had'Jgot .away; the other side of the Jordan,],v?ry nigh unto Jericho. He , thought th,e cause wquld , reap a very ' gr,eat behest if the Chbrch were" removed tb'a m'6re ! centra I position. He also asked those present to co operate with their office-bearers in' every good work, and also support their minister in-his labor of Jove. The success of a Church, he pointed out,.did not rejSt with jthe minister alone. There must be a keen sympathy betweemuiinister and people, between the pul pit - and. ;t he pew. It was sometimes said they wanted more fire in the pulpit;, but he could tell them it was very little use having fire in the pulpit if 1 here was not warmth and fuel in the pew. It should be. the duty of all to endeavor ,to !. make the Presbyterian Church of Geraldine ,a .burning and a shining light. He did not wish the slightest hyrm to any .Other, of the congregations ; at the same time he wished to see the Presbyterian. Ghurcli.. eclipsing them all. Mr Gillies containued to speak for some time, and ga|ye his hearers some good practical advice ‘as to their dcty to the Church.

Mr A. Macdonald and Mr Dunlop, as office-bearers of the Church, then addressed the meeting with regard to church matters. Both, gentlemen spoke ,of the pleasure the yisit of the Presbyr tery had afforded ;them, and expressed regret lhat the riilek of the Church only provided for their visit occuring once in three years.; ■ , The Ilev. G. Barclay was ,tben called upon. He sajd that lie' understood that it was intended that the minister ,of a Church where' such a meeting.was, being held should dot address the ‘meeting. Some people might suppose from the remarks that had'fallen from the various speakers that evening that the question of moving the Church had been definitely 'settled. He could assureTfWm that It’’was not. They would’ remember that at a congregational .meeting held a short time ago a number of persons had been deputed to canvass the district and see VhaV amount of money, would be likely to be forthcoming 'for building a new Church, and to report at a certain date,- That time was now about upland in the course of about a week a ,meeting would be held and the question discussed; He hoped' that everyone who' possibly could ! Avould attend ‘that meeting, and give the matter their very-weightiest consideration. He was able to tell them that the canvassers reported that at least £SOO could be calculated upon for ‘ the iie,w Church. 1 Ho hoped no one would think that it was out of any private motive’ or to suit" the cohvenieace .or any few individuals that it Vas proposer! to move the-Church,-as he could -assure them it was not, buVfor -the geneial.good. For his, own /part he had no voice, in the matter. He would /hot use his influence either one , way or another.!- He gave his subscription the.s-irae as anybbdy else, but beyond that they .could do as they liked. But at the same time he bad his own opinion on the subject. Mr Barclay concluded by proposing a hearty vote of thanks to the Presbytery for their visit. The vote was carried by acclamation. The meeting, was closed by Mr McKee pronouncing the benediction.