The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and ECHO. TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 18, 1884.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4545, 18 November 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and ECHO.

TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 18, 1884.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For tbe wrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance, - And tho good that wo can do.

The defeat .of the resolution granting independence to the Wesleyan Church in New Zealand will prevent the completion of the scheme for atjia.lgamating all the Methodist Churches in thfe colony. The knowledge that this scheme was a foot seems, indeed, to have 'influenced the Australian representatives against the proposition. At the last General Conference held in Sydney, a motion granting independence to New Zealand was only lost by one or two votes, and would have been carrii.d if the New Zealand representatij/es .drowned in the 'Tararua' had beenpre-: "sent, yet at Christchureh the motion was^ defeated by 58 to 33, the Aus--traliaris voting in a solid block against an eaually ttnahitnotis'yote of the New Zealanders.' Pride in the f strength * and authority Of the Australasian Conference may have affected the "resolution. Under^ jurisdiction. there are

3,710 churches and other placesf 527 ministers, 6 colleges, 13,973 Sabbathschool teachers, 4,48.0 lay preachers, 69,1 op^nilrch members, 450,631 Sabbath st|ribUirs,*;and 402,669 attendants on public worship. The secession of New Zealand, it was feared, would encourage other. colonies to detach themselves, and the unity of the denomination would have been disturbed. This, however, appears a poor reason for preventing a combination within eacli of the several colonies that promises conservation of energy and more vigorous work. The Methodist churches are identical in doctrine, and so close in forms of worship that it is marvellous that inconsequential divisions have kept them apart and in competition when so much would be gained by joining hands. People who deplore those multitudinous sectarian clans into which Christianity has been split up will be disheartened by the failure of the movement for Methodist Union; in Canada it has been an unqualified success. Its adoption in New Zealand would have given a precedent and example for the imitation of the Australian colonies. The cause may, however, not yet be lost. Contemporaneous movements in the several colonies under the jurisdiction of the General Conference might produce a combination of unrivalled strength. The influence and resources represented by the figures we have quoted are undoubtedly of great value, and worth preserving if they can be directed to * one end; and if the coordination of Methodist principles under one system of government throughout the colonies were found practicable, there would be established an'organisation capable of filling every vacant field of ministerial labour. No one can fail to recognise the influence exercised over the thoughts and habits of the people by such a body as that whose 112 representatives havegathered from the four quarters of Australasia to the Conference at Christchureh. Among the. lay representatives are the Hon. James Campbell, Minister of Education, Victoria; the Hon. J. Colton, Premier of South Australia; and other members of colonial parliaments, while the clerical representatives in. elude many men of recognised ability and wide reputation. The deliberations of an assembly so capable, and representing the largest collective organisation south of the Equator, have very substantial claims upon the attention of the general reader, irrespective of any denominational sympathies or antipathies.