METHODIST FUNCTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1922, Page 8

METHODIST FUNCTION.

GATHERING OF 2500 PEOPLE. SUCCESSFUL TOWN HALL EVENT. A most enthusiastic Methodist function, preceded by a tea, was held in the Town Hall last evening, the Rev. C. H. Laws, 8.A., presiding over an attendance of close on 2500 people. The proceedings chiefly comprised stirring addressee by the visiting ministry, and united choir singing, for which organ accompaniments were played by Mr. >L E. Randal. An apology for absence was read from the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. W. F. Maesey. The chairman, in his opening address, stated that all England, United States, and Australia were on that platform in the persons of the overseas delegates. It was more than a family gathering. He welcomed those of other denominations who rejoiced with them. He paid a special tribute to the pilgrim mothers who had to share the difficulties of the pilgrim fathers. Methodists, he added, failed to realise the strength of their church, which in round numbers totalled from 35,000,000 to 40,000,000. The peaceful transfer of New Zealand to the British Crown was largely due to the influence of the Revs. John Hobbe and J. Watkin, Patuone, and another Methodist Maori chief at the signing of the treaty of Waitangi. Mr. Laws also referred to the stalwart Methodists of later days in the persons of the late F. W. Isitt, H. D. Bedford, and T. E. Taylor. (Loud applause.) - The Rev. Grainger riargreaves, the British representative, offered congratulations to the prcsidout in presiding over such a large audience. He emphasised the fact that civilisation was the product of religion. Jesus Christ ftood at the centre of civilisation Bishop C. E. Liroke. representing the United States, then spoke. For eighteen months before America entered the war he sai.l he draped liis pulpit with throe flags, Old Glory, the Union Jack, and the tricolour gf France. Hie subject was "The American Conception of Methodism." It was no/, a sect or a church, but a divine secret of religion with a genius for patriotism. Reference was made to the part Methodism had played in the United States in the slave movement, civil war, great war, and prohibition. Rev. A. McCallum, representing-Aus-tralia, carried his audience over 2000 years of history with a series of vivid word pictures, showing how God, through seeming disaster, corrected the world and the human soul. The Rev. A. C. Lawry also spoke. A collection taken up in connection with the Centenary Fund realised £100.