THE REV. MR CONNOR'S CASE.

Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 108, 31 January 1879, Page 6

THE REV. MR CONNOR'S CASE.

A great deal of interest bas been taken in this case, which, as is now known, has been amicably terminated by the resignation, under promise of compensation, by the liev. .Mr Connor, of bis charge at Popotunoa. At tbe request of numerous sub.-cribers, we have procured a full report of Mr Connor's speech before the S-ynod, aud now furnish it as fallows : — Moderator, Fathers, and Brethren, — I may be allowed to say at the outset that if the report furnished re my district by the Commissioners were substantially a true one, I won d act otherwise than as I have done in my contention with the Presbytery ; but as I do not believe ie to be a correct report, but a report of the . most misleading character, and based on the most unfounded, not to s-iy slanderous, accusations, I appear before you to day as an appellant against as extraordinary a cause as has yet been taken by a Church Court, I may also be a lowed to premise that [ do not claim for myself any high de give of wisdom or prudence, but 1 am not willing to lie under the imputation that 1 have neither the one nor .he other, and that, therefore, ] ought on the finui-ig of the Presbytery to yield and give place to a wiser man. I hope. Moderator, Fathers, and Brethren, before I am done to shew that wisdom and prudence have in this unfortunate affair not all been on the one side. No doubt great wisdom and prudence w- uld have often served me well, just as greater zeal and piety would have done ; but I may well ask my brethren who are without defect or fault in this matter first to cast a stone at me. I grieve that my case should be the cause of consuming tlie valuable time of the Syn d. I am n..t, however, to blame in thit matter, as I have all along held that it ought never to have corns here — indeed the gravamen of my complaint is thit it li.-is been sent here, at all events, before it was in such 'a shape as might enable the Synod shortly aud finally to dispose of it. The action of the Presbytery in this matter ha-* been highly objectionable during the past twelve months, and the course wh'oh has been followed by them his resulted in a state of affairs in the Popotunoa district which never would have obtained if they had followed the course prescribed by the church for the guidance of Presbyteries when cvi's arise or "are snpp >sed to exist in a congregation which call for interference.

In view of the history ot' the district, even before I was settled there — a history well known to the Presbytery — the course tiken by the Pivsbytery was not such as to conciliate parties, ot* fitted to make for peace ;tnd tirs is one of the reasons why I dissented from the resolution of Presbytery, and asked for leave to app -al.

As paragraph 3 of my petition states the condition of Wairuna especially was a troubled one long before I was called to the district. This I would nofc feel called upon to notice bufc that the feelin.s of that time stretch into the present, and have a direct bearing upon the casd in hand. It is well known that there is a long standing grievance in regard to Mr Roy, of Wairuna. He and hs party thought he ought to have been appointed mi sion ary in the district. Again and again have 1 he .rd it said that Mr Koy ought to have been emp oyed in that way, and the Clutha Presbytery has been much h.iimed, and especially some of the older members of ifc, b- cause such an appointment was nofc made. This has been a manifest cause of trouble in the district since I came to ifc, anil the present stale of matters is iv some degree fairly at trihutahle to ifc. One of fche members of the Presbytery said that if it had nofc been for him I would not have been called to Popotunoa. Well, sir, I did nofc know that we had pitrons in out church, and probibly I was nor, grateful enough to thafc brother • bufc I have recently learned that there is some ground for the statement. I have heard Irom a gentleman to whom the Moderator of the congregation made the statement, viz., thit if it had nofc been for him no call wou'd have been given, because the Koy party were much annoyed tbat a settlement should take place, as they thought. Mr Roy had nofc been properly dealt; with. And I am bold to affi m that the same faction has persistently, dining the whole course of my ministry, opposed everything fitted to benefit the church in the district. This is W.-11 known to my first elder — whatever his present opiuious may be, and whatever may have been the cause which Ld him to sign the petition on which this case is part founded, and to which reference will be made further on. Many a time has he lamented to me the deceitful mischief, miking ways of the Roy party. I need hardly go in o an enumeration of the ways in which Mr Koy himself Ins sought to do mischief; some of these must be fresh in the minds of members of Presbytery, I although they seem to have forgotten them iv dealing with the present matter. Members of fche Presbytery who were my first assessors know why, when I was auxious to conciliate Roy and part}*-, why [ was prevented from asking him to preach for me in my absence in other p a*ts of my charge. They themselves ad.ised me not to allow him to preach; and they know how that, irregular, most irregular, as his attendance had been before that time, he hardly ever afcerwards attended my minis rations. They know that members of his family were never once iv the church since I went to the district ; and how, rather than have his child baptised by a Presbyterian, he came in all tfi- way to Port Chalmers to get ifc bapt'sed by an Independent;. They know that at that time he made up his mind not to be a member of the Presbyterian

Church, as he affirmed that in his conscience he could not do it, the Presbytery having injured him in not appointing him Missionary. They know that he has not beeu a communicant in the Pivsbyteriin Church for »t least 13 years, and that, several of his children ' are unbaptised. They know that only two years ago Mr Hoy complained that the Presbytery never paid any deference to him and his party, and that I myself had never done anything to. reconcile his party to the party that called me. They know that for years.past he has been aimiug at the foraiation of an Independent Church. They know that he was appointed secretary of a committee to begin and carry on the present agitation, and that one of the memoiials sent to the Presbytery wms in bis hand writing. Ib is known to members of Presbytery that a former elder of Biclutha, now resident in my district, testified iv theii* presence in the mans-* that his opposition was systematic, and that he tried to prejudice certiin pai-iie.-* agninst me in his neigh orhood It. is also known how he joined himself to the enemies of all stated ministries, and " l>n ke bre*-d," as v, in called, with the Plyinouihists ; and yet, forsooth, this is tlie man t> whom deference must b^ p tid, nnd bee t use he nnd (lie malcontents whom he rais s cm not be conci tateil, 1 must le«ve the district. My answer to th* Presbytery w,i.-, No ; on this g ound 1 sh ill i ot be driven away from my post. I may here mention, as it explains, I believe, much of the conduct of my office. '♦eaivrs. who all avow themselves my friends, 'that Mr James Taylor c*me to the manse two years >.go and informed me he geatly admired Mr Hoy, Hin 1 shortly afterwards he nsked me if 1 would not resign my charge, sacritic ing my own interests and feelings, to allow Mr Koy and his friends to come hack to the church. To eff ct tliis object he has clone his utmost in trying to influence others to think as he thinks, that it is my duty to resign.

In paragraph 4 of my petition I say that the former evils were intensified by the coming into the district of persons ho'ding heretic .I views ou the subject of the Gospel ministry. This, too, was well known to the Presbytery I will not say that the former stata of matters was the cause of Phmout'ism finding its way into the district. I think it would not be coirect to s=iy so, but I may safely assert that Plymotithisra found a congenial soil tolerably well prepared by the things to which I hive just referred. Perhaps it is not quite correct to say that Plymouthism appealed in the district subsequent to my settlement, for it is well known that one of the foi naei* e'ders of West Taieri congregation, who h->d turned Pit, mouth ist, was incited there before me. It would be superfluous on my part to attempt to prove that these schismatics are utterly opposed to a settled ministry in every foim, and that they are, as a general rule, most unscrupulous in tegard to the mems by which tli. y seek co cany out their own peculiar views. Nor do 1 need to illustrate or prove the fact that there is such an odour of sanctity about them while prosecuting their unholy work, that as Spurgeon — who is not general y reckoned an extreme man — says about them, ' I'bev would deceive, if it were possible, the very elect " I am afraid few of \oni--se vcs, Fathers and Breluen, but cm testify to tbe.-e things, •_■ d consequent'y you wi 1 see the evil position iv which 1 was p ac- d, and will be inclined t-> view my conduct in the light of my surroundiut;s. Jt would be useless for me to enter into the hi-.t-.ry of wh.t 1 have had to endure at the hands of these parties com" bined ; and the most galling feature of the whole was this, that if 1 attempt d to raise my voice at all against what I saw eating into the core of all law and order on the one, hand, and all vital godliness on the other, immediately the howl was r.iiscid that I was bigot ted or imprudent, in which I much fear some joined from whom 1 ought rather to have received substantial help. These things have not bpen done in a corner, and tin refute I prefer not to enlarge upon them I Matters were in this position when about the close of 1877 Mr James Koy j and Mr John Cumtning sent each a ' memorial to the Session, to be transmitted to the. Presbytery, in which they ask- d the Presbytery to visit them at their homes and see why they did not go to the church. In these memorials my name was not mentioned. They were both in formal, and might have been rejected. The office-bearers assmed me I had nothing to fear ; that if the Pres* ytery, ou investigation found tbat no charge was proved against me they would stand by me, and denounce my calumniators. On this understanding 1 consented to allow the memo ials to be sent to the Presbytery asking them to come into the district before anyone had specified the ground of their grievance. Had I to do this over again. 1 would not allow it. I consulted members of Presbytery privately, and they advised me to leave the matter in their hands and ttey would see to ifc that I suffered nothing by doing so. In consequence of this understand ng be ween mj-self and some, members of Presbytery, it was agreed to, without any oppo.-ition from me, that the Presbytery should meet with the memorialists in Wairuna Church on 2nd January, 1878, and give them an oppori unity of stating their grievances. When the Presbytery met in Wairuna Church, it w,s found that of the 25 memorialists only 13 had any connection with the church, and of them only 5 were present. Although my name did not appear in the petition, and though Moderator of the Presbytery, I was nob allowed to be present. I remonstrated, but with* out effect. The office-bearers, however, though not members of Presbytery, were allowed to remain. Depositions were taken down, and at meetings specially | called during last Synod I wai asked 'to

give explanations, urn ich I did, and the result was that the grievances complained of were declared to be of a most fr vohms character B-ing exonerated, 1 received the ( oitgratulatioiis of members of Presbytery- at the satisfactory conclusion of the investigation I cannot speak more particularly of what trans;ired at that Pi*es -ytery meeting, for although I applied for an extract minute of what was done, it lias nut yet been furnished me. (To be continued )