THE REV. J. B. WATKIN.
STRENGTH OF THE FREE CHURCH. ■ Tho Rev. J. B. Watkin, the much-re-spected head of the Free Church of Tonga, has been suffering from a severe' attack of congestion of the lungs, but is now recovering. Twelve months ago ib was prognosticated in Sydney'that the end of the Free Church was drawing near, and that Tonga would ere three months had elapsed be once mora re-united bo the Sydney Wesleyan Conference. So far from this being the caBO, however, bhe Free Church is stronger than ever, and all the defections are from the Wesleyan. body to bhe State Church. Tho official statistics of the Wosleyans as published show that 158 souls have been added to Wesleyanism in the whole Tongan group during tho last twelve months. This does nob represent the whole number of births in families professing Wesleyanism ; and as that body has, I presume, sustained the average number of losses by death, and as the number of defections from Wesleyan to the Free Church may be reckoned by hundreds, it is very evident that it is the Sydney Wesleyan connection in Tonga which is on its last legs.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 165, 14 July 1891, Page 2
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194THE REV. J. B. WATKIN. Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 165, 14 July 1891, Page 2
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