ANNUAL PRESBYTERIAN GATHERING AT TEMUKA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2112, 16 October 1890, Page 3

ANNUAL PRESBYTERIAN GATHERING AT TEMUKA.

Oa Tuesday evening last the annual social gathering and public meeting held in connection with the Presbyterian Church, Temuka, took place. There was an unusually large attendance, nearly 300, people partaking of tea, which was laid in the Tolunteer Hall.; This repast was of a very choice description, and caused most flattering remarks to be passed upon the skill of the Caterer, Mr D. McCaskill. The tables were presided over by Mrs Brewer, and the Misses Longson, Cain, Ackroyd,. Clyne, Morton, Hay, Paterson, Bruce, Bussell, Stewart (2), McLeod, 1 and McCaskill. After tea the seats were rearranged, and the public meeting held. " 'J he Bev. Mr Dickson occupied the in his introductory speech congratulated those present upon the large attendance, hot only of their own congregation but of others. During the day. the church officers bad been subjected to a close examination by the Presbytery, and tho turn of the congregation had now come. From their“ sober character he was inclined to think that his audience must not expect honeyed words or phrases from them. As a matter of fact their subjects had been chosen for them, and to himself had been assigned the question, “ What constitutes the true prosperity of a church?” In his opinion it did not consist in the social standing or number of its members. The Church of Laodicea, they would remember,, was. rich, and its members influential, but as a body it was cold and apathetic, and was condemned accordingly. The true prosperity ot the church consisted in ,' loyalty to its Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and submission to i His; (Holy Spirit. Then they would be possessed of all things needful. Into his speech the chairman introduced. several appropriate stories illustrative of the subject. The choir then sang the anthem, « Jesus, Word of God Incarnate.” The chairman apologised for the absence of the Bav. T. A. Hamilton and Mr Hutton, who were to have been present that evening. He then called upon the Bev. Mr Gillies, of Timaru, to read a resolution. The Bev; Mr Gillies said that the duty which devolved upon him was a light and pleasant one. They had met that day as a Presbytery to inquire into the state of the church generally. Theirs was not merely a Presbyterian Church, but an Episcopal one. The functions of the Episcopacy were, however, placed in the hands of the Presbytery as a whole, and not in the hands of an individual. The result of their inquiries that day was very gratifying, aad was embodied in the following resolution : Presbytery expresses its pleasure at the answers given by the minister - and representatives of session and committee to the questions put, eon. gfatulates the congregation on having its property free of debt ans qq tip generally satisfactory position oi church matters, recommend to the ses sion to the separate districts allocated to the elders for visitation, urge upor the members a deeper interest in and liberality to the work of Missions

Home and Foreign, and pray that a rich and abundant blessing may be vouchsafed by the Great Head of the Church on the ministry of the Word in this district.” Streaking to the resolution the rev. gentleman urged them to liberality in the assistance of, missions and pointed out the important work that the elders of the church in their respective districts might do if they secured the hearty co-operation of church members. Mr Rutland sang, “Consider the Lilies,” which was applauded.

The Rev. Mr Todd said that the subject assigned to him was “ Loyalty to the Church.” The first step necessary in this direction was f6r members to have a high conception of the glory of the church to which they belonged. This could only be done by studying the oast history of their church, and noting the progress it hat? made and the good it had done. If a man became imbued with the belief that his church was the best of all, then be would show it in his work. While believing in their own church it was still’possible to recognise the good in others. They could learn where they excelled and yet have their hearts filled with the conviction that theirs was the best. A man who believed in all churches and was of everyone’s religion might end in having none. Loyalty showed itself in different ways, notably in the way in which they treated their minister. Every member should give his minister credit for being aeluated by the best and purest of motives, even if he could not entirely agree with him. Much barm was done by the way members spoke of their minister, especially in the family circle. They should uphold him on all occasions. Loyalty also showed itself in the matter of attendance; very little seemed to keep them away from ehurch in New Zealand, and people were often very loyal to their business but exceedingly rebellious to their church. Others never remembered that the minister existed until there arose special call for his services, as at a baptism, death, or marriage. These formed the class known as “ Lapsed Presbyterians,” and a very unpleasant title it was. Uefortunately there were a great many of them. Others there were who went to all sorts of churches. These bad no backbone in them and were of little value to any community. Another symptom of loyalty was the way they supported the various schemes of their church. It was a duty to keep up with the schemes of church extension, missions, etc., and each should interest himself in such schemes. All could not work as individuals, but all could give, and their giving should be conscientious, liberal, and systematic. They should give as the Lord had prospered them. In conclusion, they should learn to rejoice in the prosperity of their church, whether they had a hand in it directlv or not.

The choir—" My voice shalt thou hear.”

Ihe Rev. Mr McKee, after congratulating the chairman upon the capital attendance, proceeded to speak of “ The church’s care of the young.” In reference to this subject he said that if they desired their church to prosper they must see that their places were filled, as they died away, with good men and women. The present Education Act practically excluded the Bible from the schools, and the duty of the church was tenfold increased. It was necessary not only to attend to the training of the young in the Sunday Schools, but to get hold of the elder boys and girls. The Sunday Schools were doing a noble work," but the difficulty was that their work ended when the children arrived at, say, 15 years of age; There was then a gap between that time and the period when they joined their church. The question was, how could they get their boys and girls to j interest themselves in church work ? \ He thought they might, with advantage, popularise their services a little. They were of too stereotyped a character. They ought to have more service of praise,’ much more singing, J and of the best obtainable. He believed it would be an improvement to have the sermon shortened by half, and the Bible read oftener, with a running commentary. Another thing that might be done with advantage was to encourage the reading of good literature. A really good library ought to belong to each Church, and the works issued not only to the Sunday School children, but to the congregation generally. In this way much good might be done. Another way was to employ the young, and in this matter they might with advantage take a leaf from the book of their Wesleyan brethren. They should encourage the formation of Bible classes, literary societies, and so forth. In the matter of social amusements, also, something could be done. It was not the Church’s duty to provide its members with amusement, but much innocent recreation might be countenanced by the Church aad its members weaned from more questionable pleasures. They could create innocent amusement under Ok r, 'j'J ian influence. The should a i SQ be instructed in the peculiar principles and attributes of ibe Church to which the % y hanged, In conclusion ; tbp speaker expressed a hope that a ; deeper interest would be shown by the : clergy and elders in the youth of the ; congregation. Miss E. Q-uy then sang, with.much i taste, a solo entitled “ After.” i Mr Cuthbert, of Timaru, at some , length spoke on the question of

and in graphic terms contrasted the social condition of the intemperate and temperate man. H© urged the active interference of the Church, and of each individual memher of it, in the cause of temperance. Anthem by the choir—" 0 Taste and See!”

The Rev. Mr White, of Pleasant Point, in a very eloquent speech, dealt with “ Parental care of the young.” It was a subject of importance to individuals, the State, and the Church, The best legacy a man could have from bis parents was a good and proper home training. The future was determined by the past, and if the ■ home training had not been good what character could be expected in after life? There was no middle course between Heaven and Hell, and a man’s course must be either right or wrong. Much depended upon the parents. The last influence which left the prodigal was that of a godly mother, and this was a great proof of the importance to parents of attending to the duties which devolved upon them. The period of youth was the best time of conveying impressions, because Nature was then more plastic. In after years, when the character had been formed, nothing less than the grace of God conld change it. It was better for parents to consider the best way of leaving their children with a good and firmly-established character, than to devote their attention to their, financial interests. Ha did not wish to present them with a set of rules for their guidance, but the time had arrived when they must rely solely upon God’s help in their work. If the name of God were not revered in the family circle, how could they hope to stem the tide of Socialism and social evil which now threatened to overflow the world ? That reverence once estabhghed the selfishness of Socialism would fade away. The care of young men had an important bearing upon Church life. Nothing distressed a minister more than the careless attitude adopted by the young towards the Church. It might net he worse than formerly, but there was certainly a considerable amount of apathy. Much of this was attributable to parents. If parents did not show respect to the Church by word and action, how could thoy expect their ehildren to do so ? The rev. speaker dealt briefly with the necessity for Biblical instruction at home to replace the lack of it at school, and, in conclusion, made a stirring appeal to parents to awake to a true sense of their responsibilities. Mr J. McCaskill then contributed a solo in good style. The Rev. Mr Gillies had to deal with the “ Church’s relation to amusement.” In dealing with the subject he desired to say that he only expressed his individual opinions. The church laid down no rule upon the subject, and everyone had a right to his opinion. His differed entirely from that of Mr McKee. The first years of a child’s life might be devoted to amusement and amusement only, but as they grew older they were told to put away childish things. This, unfortunately, they seldom did. Even the church was to be asked to cater for its members’ amusement. The great end of some men was to enjoy themselves. Work bad to come in as a disagreeable necessity. So far as work and play were concerned they were merely the result of activity,either muscular or mental. Work, however, was the activity which had a monetary or bread-and-butter end in view. Play was activity for the end of pleasureable excitement, momentary or otherwise. One should ennoble, the other might and often did degrade. With regard to the church’s relation to amusement he could find no mention of it in his concordance. He could find, however, many warnings against the pursuit of pleasure, and if they only looked around them they eould see the evil prophesied by the apostle growing daily more evident. The church had a definite work assigned to it by their Lord and Master, “ Go ye into all nations,” etc,, and “ I am with ye always.” Where they could not conscientiously admit Christ’s presence they had no right to be. The church’s duty was not to cater for amusement, but to wean from it. The church might he popularised, but not spiritualised. Catering for amusement did not provoke to good works, nor were better men or women made by it. Once let the clergy descend to this work and their influence would be weakened. They were representatives of a Church, and were not called upon to play the buffoon. Secularising the church would not be bearing testimony to their Lord and Master. In conclusion he trusted that although the meeting had not been of a humorous character yet some might say that it had been a profitable one. The anthem, “ What are These ? ’» was then sung, after which the Rev Mr Bunn, in a most humorous moved a vote of th**"’ opeech, who had ' --uks to the ladies glitrb*- 1 moisted at the tea. He 1 traversed the speeches of the previous speakers, and pointed out several instances where in his opinion they might with advantage have taken a leaf from the Wesleyan Methodists, although, of course, their own Presbyterian Church was the best-

The vote having been carried, Mr S. Cain moved a hearty vote of thanks to the speakers, to the choir for their excellent music, to Mr Rutland the conductor, and to Miss Kennedy (of Timaru) for playing the accompaniments.

The Rev. Mr White then pronounced the Benediction, and the meeting terminated.