THE REV. JOHN WILKIN ON COLONIAL CHURCHES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 211, 3 September 1908, Page 3

THE REV. JOHN WILKIN ON COLONIAL CHURCHES.

Tlu- Kβv. Juhn Wilkins, formerly minister of the Beresford-street Congregational Church, read a paper at the in-ter-Colonial Conference held in in June. His subject was "{Special Difficulties Connected with .Religious Life and Work in the Colonies."' According to th-a report which appears in "The British Congregationuliai," of July 2, "ilr Wilkins confessed he would have much preferred to deal with the glorious success of the. -work, which would have given ample scope for the highest optimism. But his enthusiasm for the enterprise did not blind his eyes to its failures. The greatest difficulty, he said, was the. appalling indifference of the people in the colonies. They were wholly taJcen up with material things. Not only was tbia the case with those outside the church; the same paralysing spirit had entered the church itself. Many who attended services only wanted some excuse to stay away. The congregation did not go prepared to listen to the sermon; for the most part the attention of the people had to be secured by some topical and attractive subject. This moant that expository teaching was at a decided disadvantage. The young people, said ilr Wilkins, did not stay in the Sunday schools, .lust when (he minister looked to them to join the church they drifted away. There were but four churches in the whole of Australia, with a membership over 300. It was exceedingly difficult to get any church members to do active work for Christ, in spite of short hours of labour and ample leisure. For instance, it was often impossible to pet teach'prs for the Sunday school. The Minister had to be both superintendent and teacher. Thin material spirit also gave the people a tendency to measure the success of the church only from the purely financial standpoint. To end the year without a deficit seemed to be the end-all of the church's mission. 'Where the people are bent on money-making it is easy for the same ideal to possess them in thoir church life' said Mr Wilkins. The sad thing whs that many who came from the. Home churches became the most indifferent. They went to the colonies with the desire to make money, and often became careless to all other claims. Mr Wilkins urged, amidst loud applause from the colonial delegates, that periodical visits from prominent English ministers would do much to revive roliminl religious life. He com-

plained Hut in this respect, other riranm illations had lipcn a great deal more fay ournblv treated.

"Mr Wilkins aroused much feeling in dealing with the "practice of making the colonies the dumping-ground for the outcasts of Great Britain.' It was evident that this Avas a sore point -with the dele jratos. If the moral tone was lower in the colonies, the people, at Home \wj"P largely responsible, said Mr Wilkins. Knglish people sent to (.he colonies men of whom they despaired, and 'who contaminated everyone with whom they r-ame in contact. On the condition that they remained 12.000 miles away, these morally (iisease.it brutes were sent a

weekly allowance of 20/ by their relatives at Home. Thus they were not even forced to work: they were free to spread their own horrible, habits.

"It mis inevitable that such a bold, unreserved paper as Mr Wilkins' should be challenged. The Rev. -1. C. Villiers (Kingston, Ontario) asserted that no town in Great Britain could boast such a churehgoinj; population as Kingston. At a recent census, only 145 persons of a population of 20,000 stated that they ■ware unattached to a relnrious body. On the other hand. Mr Jackson said, in the Canadian towns he had visited he had found just the difficulties Mr Wilkin.' had emphasised. The Rev. J. Gould Layton underscored, and underlined tlw> protest Mr Wilkins made ag-ainst the dumping of undesirables upon the colonies. 'If a man wants to go to the dcvi] in England, he can go: if he -wants to go to the devil in the colonies, he ran go far faster. I Avant to tell you at Home it is wicked, it is a sin, to send these men to the colonic*. It is probable that their lives will become ten times worse under the ireor conditions. If they have bad influences here, they will hawiar \eorse there.'-"