Presbyterian Church.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 984, 3 April 1877, Page 6

Presbyterian Church.

The annual meeting of the congregation of the Tokomairiro f resbyterian Church was held last Thursday evening. There were about a hundred persona present. The proceedings were opened with prayer, after which the Rev. James Chisholm, who presided, said that the report of the session bad been in the hands of the congregation for a considerable time ; it was not, therefore, necessary for him to make any remarks upon it. The meetinghad been called to give the members of the congregation au opportunity of asking any questions or making any suggestions. He hoped they would embrace the opportunity of doing 6», as the session had always been willing to receive any suggestion which wa« made in a friendly spirit and meant f<>r good. He would now call upon Mr J. E. Brown to read the financial statement of the congregation, and he was sure that, after Mr Brown bad done so, he would be very happy to answer any questions regarding it. Mr J. E. Brown then read the financial statement, which has been already published in our cotuiaus, He was §orry to »y the

•ustentation fund bad fallen off a little from the previous year, but be would not dwelt upon the nutter because they were all well aware of the reasons— business being dull and money scarce in the district. He did not think it was from any lack of willingness to subscribe to the fund. From the year 1871 to 1876 it bad made a' progressive rise, and now was only slightly under that of last year. At last annual meeting of the congregation a special fund had been organised , called the Congregation Mission Fund. The motion which was passed regarding it provides that it should be raised by the deacon> in the ordinary way, 'aud if any deficiency existed that it should be made up from * Church door collections and seat rents. The amount directly contributed to the fund was rather small, and bad to be supplemented, as shown in the report, by £79. from Church door collections, and £34 from seat rent*. THe other fdnds of the Church had kept well up, and looking at the depressed state of the district he thought they ought to be well satisfied. -He would move the adoption of the report. Mr Clelland seconded the motion, which, on being put to the meeting, was carried unanim ously. ■ The Chairman .said it was not necessary for them to adopt the report of the session. It was laid before them simply to give information regarding the various agencies of the congregation. They all, lie trusted, knew enough cf Church government to be aware that the session was not responsible to the congregation, but to the Presbytery. It was the superior of the session, and had the right to review its proceedings. At the same time it was the duty- of the session to act, as far as possible, in harmony with the congregation, and he was sure the session would be very glad to answer any questions, or have any suggestions on the report laid before them. Mr Brown said that the subject Of Congregational mission 'work had been fully considered by the Session and Deacons' Court, and they had, come to the following resolution.— "That the Session and Deacons' Court, recognising the necessity for the continuation of missionary assistance in this 'congregation, recommend that the present scheme be continued, and express their satisfaction at the return of Mr Nichol to his duties as missionary. At the same time they regret the small portion of the funds raised at the preaching stations, and would urge upon the portion of the congregation especially receiving his services the necessity of their making much greater exertions to raise a much higher proportion of the funds necessary for his support." During Mr Nichol' s absence Mr Arnott had been engaged to attend to his duties. With regard to the amount collected at outlying stations, he would. say .that they had only made a beginning, and. he .believed- that many people who were never in the hatnt of attending divine service attended the meetings held by the missionary. Of course the first thing was to get them to attend to the preaching of the Gospel;' and then get them to contribute. Unless these outlying districts made a strong exertion, a large deficiency would have to be made up by those who wete near the church. He thought that those places should makt exertions in order to contribute a larger sum to the fund. He would move that this meeting affirms the resolution which he had just read. . Mr D. /M'Donald seconded the motion. .Mr George Lindsay thought that it was due to him to say a few words about this matter. He had been in connection with one of the districts (Waibola Gorge) where Mr Nichol had ministered. At the time the services were commenced, they bad crowded meetings at the school-house, which was then only about" r half the size it is now, and last Sabbath jthe i* room was almost full, and he could see a great many people present who had *, never attended? at this church, being, in fact, \ at too great a distance from it to do so. He thought it would be quite right to continue the services, although' it might cause considerable' expense to those who were in the neighbouthood f>? * n ® church. Although these parties di& not render much assistance in the way of payment, they had made a beginning by attending, and- he had no doubt but that some bf tKenf had been greatly benefited by the sendees. No one should have any objection, to., the motion. v ; Vp^oi Chairman remarked that just when they had iinto proper order and had decided io, fcave fortnightly services Mr NiehoTs health *a3 #&?£• He ; .(Mr, Nichol) had been absent most'oTtue summer, the time wtien : they talght natu*a?)v have expected mu^fiiafgW meetings. no doubt bad been pyar|ly r ti^eause of the small amount being Of course they had engaged Mr Arnott to attend to these districts. buVaSttfc^Hdy came oil Saturday, and returned on Monday, there could' not be very m^e^e^^b^ I^ever, there could W no doubt tnat they were doing a good werk in carrying the means of grace to Jhese brit-of-the'way and supposing the aongregaT^n^ taxed for a time ;^sspgL|^i^j#3 tfcap; * a 8 for a «8«ful-W0rkV J ',':,^>- ?:,■- .V,.-. -*•■:.;.-.';.•■ No amendment havihg been proposed, the Chairmtn : put the motion to^ie.raeeting, and it was, declared carried. ,'T ' •V, Mr McDonald said that it was promised Jhat the seat rents^hould be reduced He I^W^a%M^*M3r Brown could, tell what had ■"■-v^^o^e-inihe'^matte^r'P-*^^" "'"*' -rMr^Brc^f^^^^^^r^i o^^ o^^**^ aTesolutioo £l"«h#»d be^n passed£the=#eat |-^»^^<«^«s to 4s. 7 The The Chairman said he was so.^fwhat sorry

to see that the critical faculty was at a low ebb with the congregation this evening. He did hope that if any of them had anything to complain of they would do so now, so that afterwards there might be no unpleasant '. feeling. He was sure this was the time to do 80, and the session was always willing to receive any suggestion which was made in a proper spirit. Mr Hay thought it was to be regretted that the congregation was so remarkably quiet on church matters. It appeared to him that a good many had a good deal to say, but did not like to begin He himself had been more willing to listen than to say anything. He had no complaint to make, The resolution which they had just passed he could fully endorse. It was money well spent, and he believed it would take time to work these outside districts to a satisfactory point; and he believed the coagregation hailed vith satisfaction the return of vr Nichol amongst them, and he had no doubt whatever but that his labours would be found fruitful of much good. Of course it would require time to show any improvement in those outlying stations. Mr Nicho! had special qualities for euch work. The office- bearers had attended totheir work very well, and he did not think any good would be done by scolding them for slight mistakes which they might have made. The best planwould be to show them what was- right by example as well as by precept. The mere collecting of the funds, he was sure, had given the deacons a good deal of trouble. If there was" any fault to be found with the elders or their worthy minister, the deacons are the parties who will hear of it, and he thought they required special grace to hear it in good humor. He had no special complaint to make, and he thought it was a mistake to state publicly anything which would tend to sow discord in a congregation. Every one should do what he could to encourage good feeling. There was one thing which he did not see mentioned in the session's report. Mr ■ Brown bad told them that the finances had j fallen off a little, but they did not know whether the number of the members of the church had fallen off. Now, in any of the societies with which he had been connected such a thing had always been mentioned in the reports, and if the number were given it would be some satisfaction. He noticed that something was said about the small attendance at the weekly prayer meetings. He was sure it must be very discouraging to their minister, and they who did not attend were themselves the losers. The Sunday School teachers were deserving of the congregations thanks for the time and attention they bestowed upon their duties. He had no other remarks to make, but thought the motion which had been passed should receive their hearty support. Mr. Brown said, with regard to the number of the members of the Church, there was a great difficulty in getting the exact number, and lately there had been a complete new entry of every communicant's name. The number on the list was 360. Mr. Hay said he had noticed that in some of the reports of Dunedin congregations special reference was made to this subject. The Chairman had felt it was an awkward thing to set down the exact number of those who had joined the Church and not give the number of those who had left owing to the difficulties spoken of by MY. Brown. This could only be done approximately, but they would attend to it in next report. Some forbearance required to be shown them for they were as yet to some extent new in drawing up reports of this kind, but next year they would try to give them all the desired information. At the same time he would have them keep in mind what Mr Brown had said. Some members left the district and he only knew they had done so either from missing them at Church or being told by somebody. At home when people were leaving they generally called upon their minister to tell him where they were going and get a certificate. But here there was a larger number going to and fro, many of whom did not come to tell the minister when they were leaving so as to get a certificate and get their name struck from the roll, and of course the same attachment to Church ministers as shown at home was not to be expected here in the case of those who were often changing. Mr W. Smith could not see why the same sympathy could not be established here between the people and their minister as there was in the old country. He said that the personal contact of the minister with his people was the only way the minister could find access to the hearts of his people, and unless he* became acquainted with them it waa very far off from being right. The Chairman thoroughly agreed with what Mr Smith had said — personal contact would cement them together. He thoroughly sympathised with these remarks, but before there had been circumstances preventing him coming in contact with the people as much as he would like ; but now since they had appointed a missionary to assist him in the work of the district he had no doubt but that they would be able to come more into contact with each other. No one prized the value of such a thing more than he did. (Applause.) The proceedings were brought to a close by devotional exercises.