RECOGNITION SOIREE.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 146, 28 March 1872, Page 3

RECOGNITION SOIREE.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

One of the most successful soiree reunions that has ever taken place at the Thames was held last night. Tea was provided in the Home Institute, and very nearly, if nut quite, 400 persons sat down. There were six tanles, which were nicely laid out witli ail abundance of edibles of all sorts, which were supplied by subscription amongst the members and friends of the Chinch. Owing to the time of tiie Auckland visitors being very limited, no time was lost in adjourning to the Church in Marv-street, which was« soon crowded, every available seat being- occupied, and numbers not being able to obtain shtingroom. Captain Daldy presided. The proceedings were opened by singing the 214th hymn, after which the Rev. Mr Biitlaud offered up a prayer. The Chairman then said that he would not occupy their time long, but that be bad a few remarks to make. He was very sorry that some more of the friends of the Church were not present, more especially Mr J. Rout, who was such a staunch friend of the Church, lie read a letter from Mr Rout, expressing his great regret at not being able to come down and preside, but he was suffering from a severe accident, and was quite unable to travel. He stated, however, that lie was with them in thought and spirit. The subject of founding a church in this district had, from the start, given him great and serious subject for thought, and though for some time delayed, lie bad always felt confident that one would he planted in their midst, founded on a firm basis. He enclosed a cheque for £5 ss, and wished them every blessing of the Almighty in their undertaking. The Chairman said that he would keep them no longer, hut that lie quite agreed with Mr Rout, who was a man of more than half a century of experience in church matters, and lie observed that the foundation of the present church had not been the work of a few months, hut of years, and that patiently and steadily they had made headway during that time, and the result was before them that night. They had not been in a hurry, and the result was a vety successful one. The church had a very small debt on it, and one which he trusted would soon bo cleared off. He cordially gave the right hand of welcome to the Rev. Mr Butland, their future pastor, and said that they were much indebted to the Colonial Mission Society for his presence amongst them, ami trusted that he would he spared to them, for many years, and would work well ami faithfully in the vineyard to which he had been called. Mr Hudson, the secretary to the Building Committee, then read the report of their labours from the time of their appointment. Space will not permit of our giving it in full, hut the following financial statement will show how satisfactorily the committee have carried out their duties : Building Account. —To architect for | design, £5 : accepted tender for building, j £4BB ; clerk of works, £5 ; to contract ! for feuc’, £45 12s fid ; extra for sanding | front, £4. Sundries: House rent for minister, advertising, &c., £bs lus I 44; total, £033 8s 10d. Monies col- : looted : Offerings at Thames School-room, £4l fis 2d ; total amount of subscriptions ■ to date, £278 10s Gd ; proceeds of Mr I Davis’s lecture, £10: borrowed on interest, £145 ; rebate on account of pews on Onehiinga, £35 ; collection at opening service, £24 2s Gd ; estimated proceeds from soiree, £3O (tins wo think is under the mark Ed. T. G.) ; total, £SG3 19s 2d. Leaving to he provided, £69 9s Bd, less £ss ss, received from Mr Rout, £G4 4sßd, of this £2O has been promised already, which would further reduce the amount to £44 4s 84. The report stated also that the ground had been presented free of all cost, and that other works had been

kindly performed free of cost by some of tli- carters of the district, &e., for which the committee sincerely thanked them. Tiie Choir then sang, “Thine, O Lord,” which was very well rendered. The Rev. Mr Butland said that one item in the report he could not allow to pass without comment, and that was the gift of the land which had been presented free of all cost by Messrs Richard and James Hudson. “With regard to the welcome accorded him, and the assistance he had received since his arrival, he was most grateful for the extreme kindness evinced towards him throughout, and the thoughtfulness shown to him as a slnnyer in their midst. As he wished the people present to hear the speeches made by the visitors, lie would say little or nothing of the duty of a minister towards his congregation at present, but would endeavour to show by his actions in coming years whether lie understood those duties or not. In his opinion a minister should have a genial soul, arid should endeavour to shed a light over the souls of his congregation. A minister had two distinct duties to perform —one was to teach liis flock, to impress them with the truths contained in the Scriptures, and not merely to deliver a flowery address which would be forgotten as soon as they left the Church, hut should endeavour to build up a belief in their hearts of the groat goodness -of Providence. The other work was to herald the gospel to his congregation away from church, and to visit and assist them when in doubt or spiritual difficulty. -He thought that a praying, attentive congregation would always mako a faithful minister. There was nothing behind the scenes for a minister to learn, his duty was plain and straightforward. He would say no more now, but would have plenty of future opportunities to converse with them on ail these matters.

The Chairman apologised for Mr Rees, who, though he had come down, was too unwell to address them that evening. He hoped that the meeting would excuse Mr Rees.

The 897th Hymn was then sung by the choir and congregation, and a prayer delivered by the Rev. Mr Hamer. Mr J. C. Firth, in coming forward, expressed his regret at not having heard the speeches on the relative duties of pastor and flock, which he considered were most interesting subjects, and it was very unfortunate that they had not been explained fully, hut lie thought that their importance was that to explain them fully would occupy the greater part of the evening. He expressed the great pleasure it afforded him to meet here in a busy town, where the thoughts of most were bent on the acquirement of gold, than which there was not a more morally dangerous pursuit in the world. He felt, aS he said, great pleasure at meeting such a number of Christians, mostly belonging to other denominations, as had come forward and given the hand of friendship to a new congregation starling in their midst. Ho was not going to run down the pursuit of mining for gold, hut lie certainly must say that was tiie most dangerous that any man could follow, as it was so likely to obtain the mastery of him at any time, to the neglect of his spiritual duties, and therefore he was all the more pleased to see the numbers who came forward to show their affection and love of Christ. As regarded Congregationalists, or, as they were formerly called, Independents, lie said that their form of worship was neither more or less than a protest against priestly influences. It was a thing of (lie people alone, in which each and every one was independently responsible for himself, and had to answer to the Almighty for li is actions. The protests made against priestly power from the first had not merely been those of words. They had been those strong works and actions, and when necessary actual combat had been resorted to. The principles of the Congregationalists were not meant to he offensive to any other denomination of Christians, far from it. They place some importance on organisation, hut not to the same extent as others, and it was not their wish to force their views on any other body of Christians. lie knew that all could not he alike, as it was well known that nature abhors uniformity. Love to God and love to man were the great characteristics of a Christian, no matter of what denomination. Congrcgatioualist ministers w re not priests, simply leaders of their flocks, and a standard-hearer whom it behoved to go to llie front and fight the battles, in which lie must he supported and hacked up by his congregation. After some more remarks on the duties of the minister in tiie instruction of his flock, more particularly in regard to the various doctrines which arc springing up daily, enunciated by modern philosophers as the)’ are called, and calling attention to the danger they were to the Church, Mr Firth finished with some excellent advice both to the minister and congregation as to their future working, and sat down amidst great applause. Rev Warlow Davies then gave a most interesting address on the subject of church finance, and gave several methods of collecting monies, in common use by church committees, to which he strongly objected, such as borrowing, begging, and taking rents for pews. lie fnily convinced his hearers that lie was right; and we regret that space will not admit of our giving fuller details of his remarks.

A hearty vote of thanks was proposed to the visitors and carried with acclamation, previous to their departure. The meeting then listened to an address from the Rev. Mr Buffer, and selections by the choir, hut we are compelled to curtail our report. A collection was made at the doors, hut we did not learn the amount obtained. We must certainly congratulate the committee and all concerned on the unqualified success of the whole affair, and the excellent arrangements made by them. The Auckland visitors returned by the Golden Crown at 9 p.m.