WESLEYAN CHURCH, MASTERTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 676, 26 January 1881, Page 2

WESLEYAN CHURCH, MASTERTON.

' * The annual Circuit tea meeting of the above Church was held in the Wesleyan Schoolroom, Masterton, on Monday, Hth January, 1881'. The tables,'which were provided and presided ovqr by Mesdames, Vile, Hqare, Rouutree, Baumljer, Bakqc, and Brown, were loaded with good things, and tastefully adorned with flowers, and a good number sat down to a most enjoy, able tea. In the evening'the publio meetingtook place in the : Chapel, at which there was a very good attendance.

The proceedings commenced with sing, ing and prayer, after- which the Chair was. taken by,Mr Gordon.'

. The Choir, sang a selection from Moody and' Sankey in a very pleasing manner, and the .Chairman then-proceeded; to address the meeting. His remarks were principally upon the finanoiai state bf the Circuit. The' Chtirch' required money, and they were riot ashamed to beg for th 9 Church of Christ. There: was still remain, inga small debt'for the" quarter of £3 but he trusted' that the meeting would ? before the evening closed;-wipe that out' Money was very frequently Bpent upon trifles without hesitation, but the same spirit-was not displayed;™ giving foMho purpose of hastening forward the workof' spreading the glad tidings of salvation' -Ji was passing strange that where they frerti so much concor'ned they were yet so little concerned. -\' t -.". v Another of Moody and Sa'nkey's hymns' was.sung by the Choir. - . • ■-.'■. 'The Rev Mr Dukes, who was received with hearty applause, said that he had : been told not to expect a large attendance this day, as the Good Friday-tea meeting would be the great event of the year! Well, he trusted they wopld keep 'the .Good Friday tea meeting-In.min^an 7 ! make, it .a success. He next spoke on Circuit matters, first alluding briefly to the Conference now being held at Nelson. He. was very lorry'to say that the 'effect of the division of the Circuit had been disastrous to Greytown, but Mastertott had risen, to the exigencies of .the case, and it was very gratifying to find {hat the, '• 'Circuit debt, which two quarters ago £27, was now nearly-wiped sff, and he trusted that it would be buried that night to rise no more. He was; glad to see so mattypresent to give'it'a decent interment. He was extremely gratified that certain gentlemen had agreed to forma Fi-. natwe Committee to relieve him of all

S y wltl y es P eo ' to money • ™ oh ™ a t ßte P>n the tight direction. It was said that parsons wore duffers at business and ho wwhed to romainadufe. A Crp n r ,db l e . C,ear - ,lend(!ll . nn 'l lighthpa tod. Mmhm of worldly care, then f he does not do his duty, intimate to him the neeessuy for a change, for when the happiest feolins between the minister and his congregation did not it wns time for a; separation; He tknbd them for the.r expression of confidenco at the quarterly meet.ng, in asking him to remain another year with them, which inRation he (heerfully accepted', subject to the approval of the Conference. He did not intend gom e oyer the whole of the Circuit tlmt n.ght, aa j t was n very larce one Ho rusted they would not extend their boundary as there were so few local preachers He had been told fey the previous Conference to strike out in all directions, and make the Oircuit.self.sup. Porting, and they would now see that four fresh places had been added to the plan. „ n l„7\ h W toßay ">at they had not only kept their word with the minister, but had alan satisfied every quarter's contha.Welhrieton district had done better. lllia, 100, had been done without any help; or any assis&l^-^^ ngfinanoial depression, he cofludered theyhad acted nobly. He that therewere both, encouraging and de pressing sigmrin :the wprk .of the past. Ihere.were four,hundred adults under theTnimatry in,that;Gircuit,.and as many of them travelled from (fifteen to twenty miles on bad roads to attend worship, they showed a love for God's work which was most pleasing and gratifying. And in that Church, too, there had not been, wanting signs of spiritual advancement, the. communicants having been doubled. He was much depressed, however, by the poor attendance at the Wednesday evening services, it was hard work preaching to empty pews, and he found the New Zealand timber much harder than the English. He hoped they would cheer him by a better attendance in future. He then proceeded to speak of the-debt on the Church building. He thought this an opportune time to bring, under their notice the fact that there was a.debtof £240 upon the church. rheyhadjuatfreedtheOircuit-.orwouldto-night-from debt and their prospects for the coming year were hopeful. Trade ap' peared-to be reviving although slowly,and, more.than this, they had the example of other churches before them, and he would take this opportunity of offering his hearty congratulations to his Episcopalian friends upon the successful result of their bazaar. One church could not suffer without others feeling it, and none could grow in grace or extricate itself from difficulties, but others, must rejoice with it, and he again offered his congratulations to their English Church fellow workers, Some said• the Weslayans were alwaysbegging, and it was notfar from the truth, but if they wo'uld...be honest they were compelled.to do bo, .yet perhaps not so much.as other churches; so if they left their church to find one Wrere there would be no payments; they..w6uld be disappoint ted. If : they,"buttone'd "up their' pookets and escaped air churches; they .-would never join .the Church of God. With regard to the many • demands on their pooketSjhe Slid John Bull always growled, .but always paid, and he found that this was . becoming more and more a : characteristic of the colony... He then gave an extract from Sydney; Smith's well-known description of British taxation, but hoped New Zealand would'.never.come to the state described by : that writer. Certain it was, however, that they would never be free from the claims of the Church, to the end of all time. The: question to deal withriow was" How to liquidate". the debt of L2dodue on the 'Church building!" He proposed that they should hold a bazaar about the middle of December next, and invited the hearty co-operation.nf all their friends' to say what guarantee should be furnished, He had every faith in his own psopie, and in the help of other Christian.friends. They .must have a promise from every worshirjper to furnish something toward ' iiipplyingthe stalls, There-weretenraonths in which to make garments and' fancy • articles, and he had no doubt the time would be quite sufficient. There would be a committee formed to wait upon every member of the circuit. He then pointed buWhat the Church of England, through its late effort, was free from debt —the Presbyterian Church, lie thought, was the same, and he felt ashamed to be the tninister of a church in debt, He had been educated to look upon a church in debt as disgraceful, and a byword of reproach to ungodly men, an incubus weighing them down. And he called upon them all to help to rid the church of its burden. He himself would put LlO worth of goods, and as much morn as possible on a stall, He wished to leave them free and unshackled when he left the circuit. Jt was a beautiful buildiug, but its beauty ps hidden, in his eyes, whilo it was in debt, and he expressed his determination to give his time, energy, arid talent for tlie next ten month's to cast off its burden.' The rev geutleman then resumed hisseat amidst applause. ' The Chairman said they ahould now forget the pastor's speech while the col lection went on for the Circuit fund, and then remember it for the next ten months. ' . Cihoir: 'f Only an Armor Bearer," Miss Marshall singing the air very nicely as a solo, being well supported by the choir in the chorus.. Mr Marshall'then, addressed the meeting Speeches were not in his lino. He found that in the Old Country the practice of Methodists ws.s to get out of debt, and then to get in again. 'Of course such things would happen, but every member should put his shoulder to the wheel, and' not leave the/difficulty, on the backs of two or three.' They should convert all their drones into workers. He also al- . luded to the scanty attendance at the Wednesday /prayer meetings, and con* eluded a pleasant addre.sa by relating an instructive anecdote, .. . ;;. The Ohairman;said tjiey wanted system to keep clear of debt—a system of giving, ■ If they could only-afford 3d give 3d,, if 6d give 6d', and give regularly; it had been tried in ■•Wellington,, and was a success. The Firifince Committee would try the plan for the coming quarter, . The Choir then-sang hymii.l4B, Moody and Sankey, at the conclusion of which }be Chairman-announced that the.collect (jortiounted to£l its'; leaving a delicSlyof £l3s to be obtained that night, , Mr Bauniber then said a few words, Ho thought there had beenvery little left for him to say, but there was one aspect of the financial question to. which he would draw their, attention. It was that the ' officers of the Church were not begging on their own account, or on God's account, but for the'direct benefit of. the givers. The more they gave the more would they be blessed, but God would carry on his work whether' they' gave or not. Those who gave most would receive most—not, perhaps, of'this world's goods, but of treasure laid up in Heaven, Mr Baumber concluded a most eloquent speech by instancing the poor widow in the New Testament, and telling,his hearers to stitch away and to give what they could afford. Mr Dukes then stated that as several other gentlemen had .come in.Bince the first collection, the stewards, had .better make another, •in order riot'to derive them of the. pleasure'of giving. • There was a sum of 235/to,"n)ake ; up, and he

would start it with the odd 3s, and hoped that twenty moro .would give a shilling e\ch.

Tlio Choir then gave a selection while tho collection was being made. The result was that 5s fid was carried forward as a creriit balance.

Mr Dukes said the result gave him great satisfaction, as his hands were now free. He moved a vote of thanks to the chair, which was carried by acclamation. A hearty vote of thanks was also accorded to the ladies who had so kindly presented the tea; also to the Choir, and to Mra Gapper, who presided at the harmonium.

The Chairman stated that he had omitted to mention that Mr Powell had been prevented by sickness from attending that meeting. ° A very enjoyable evening then terminated.