WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1569, 16 November 1867, Page 2

WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Last evening a tea meeting was hel 1 in the .»c)ioolroorn attached to the Wealcyan CiiurcJi, Durham street. After tea, which was very f<liy attended, the company adjourned to the church, where a public meeting was held. On the platfurrn were the Revs. T. Buddie (chairman), A. Reid, J. Urump, A. It. Fitchett, L. A. Tuylor, und W. Lee. The meeting was opened by prayer. The Rev. Chairman stated the meeting had been colled to hear the reports of tho diil'erent district preachers. He was sorry that one of their lay brethren had not taken the chair, but the preachers had been met with the objection that laymen would rather sit in the body of the church and list mi to whut they had to say. The Home Mission was one ihat had for it 3 object the spreading of the Gospel in their own country; districts were formed, and as some of them could not be made self-supporting, the society as a whole had to assi*t them. During the pa.st year a church had been established , at vireytnouth, at which twenty-six members regularly attended public worahip. Steps had been taken to build a church, and of

course tho Parent Society had had to assiaf tW district. OrJior district* nleo vnntefl »"=»■■ -I,,,(•„»,;. •;;„. fi in ~f ?,r,,; m vv.tj. ~1,.mUm,,n,; 1 to lh, travelling oxpjn oi I'ao Kuiibtm-iIW had been spent- i n thi, wiv. Ali t ) it .tl.or t!,o commit.,-e lmd voted i-'iSO, un.J ull tho funds th.-y had * jl»™«Mit anrunied to £220, aml"tl, PV *! !i!.orof.,ro look to this an.t other dUtrioM to enable them to c;irry on flio work. N o d ou hf th.-y would a<*ist to the utmost, o f the ; .i-mtv Ho hoped ti,.,fc he had expired •Wrly tho oh, w , s for which .hoWL h n j b.vn ,-al!,d Mr Bud.ile then sta/d '£ 'u.vtv* win.!, thed.lftrent minister, had met M,, ' 1i1,n " ? , ,, ; MWSt - TC,tr ' a,l,le! »<* that tho I uuvtin ? would have m, opportunity of hearing ! the iiitl.Ti'Mt mttusiters. o I In' Rev. J Crump said that while other, hid h.'on civiniT fin account of tho diftV I di>inct*,heh :t d thought that each p.rticuW whilst «-i«.|i l.nd ..btain-d something he hJ ohtamod nothing for hie. Hβ would hot ever, try to RO back with a feeling that hi was not beho den to them. Hi, cireui! had had peculiar expenses, to defray «««, of which the district bad had no id/a th would be called upon to pay. The m JJ r then gave an account of what had been done m hie circuit (Nelson), and of th difficulties wifh which tho members U, contend On the goldfields in the prorbco ?t was calculated that there were 18 000 habitants, and he was not aware that the. 0 * w.w a single minister labouring amongst t\u>m Hβ had been told tlmt in the \\ export there was not a single pU ce of _ »h.p. It w:t, for >u.h pl,,ee s oe th,,, that he hud endeavoured to obram a grant. H e \ ww \ that everyone would do something to Lour the Savioir's desire. Each could do some thmg, and it behoved them who were blew,! with (lie opportunity of attending cerT ; M , utmost daily to asaist those who were »«. differently situated. ™ The Rev. J. A. Taylor, of Oamaru, e ' aid that at the outset he mu«t make eomeljtt]! apology. Ho was a stranger amongst them and had been put in the front row of speaker*' and moreover, he could assure them that h looked upon making a tea meeting » m i one of the greatest bores possible Hβ would at any time rather conduct a service tC mako a tea meeting speech. It was a rer» difficult matter to keep from being prosy and at the same time not giro way to undue leritr The rev gentleman then g*ve an account of what had been done in his circuit, which he stated was one of the poorest in the province Some progress had, however, been made in spite of many difficulties. There were abun. dant reasons why all should do their best to forward the work of the Home Mission, and he hoped that they would express their em. pathy in the cause that ovening in a very substantial manner. The Key. Mr Bnnn, of Inveroargill, was glad to hear auoh very good reports from all the districts. He gave some account of the success of the Mission in Invercargill, Invereargill was also a very poor district, still a good deal had been done. At one meeting £140 had been collected towards the building of a new church. Female collectors had also gone round, and the sum had been raised to £350, and the Church of St. Paul's was pur. chased. A committee of ladies had then been formed to clear off the remainder of tho purchase money, and the debt was pud. Key. MrFidgett, of Dunedin, said that they must not expect from him a very lon/j speech. Up to tho lust few daya ha had been on what might bo callod a ministerial treadmill, and therefore ho hoped that they woiil I not. expect much from him. Tho circuit in Dunedin had progressed steadily, if not rapidly, during the past year. Sixty-cis inemboiM hud been admitted, and the atten. dan<?e at. the Sunday services had also much incu-eueed. He thought that no one could ear tlwl inn Glioma of llw noma Mission Lad beau thrown away. The great object of tbo VVesleyana wna to effect tho cy&ngolizution of the world. The present nge was characterised by a scoffing spirit, and they wanted a revind of what might be called real evangelical teaching. What he meant waa to bring home to tho hearts of men th» real truths of the GroapeJ, the pat doctrine of the atonement, not with words bat by the power of tho Holy Spirit. By rook means only ho considered, ecoptioieru oould be clono away with and the miste of error dissolved, and these truths were those which the Wesleyana ac a body were det«rminfld to preach. As a Church they had a well-defined, and what had been called v successful, eyetetn of training their jonnj? men intended topreitch the gospel. When a candidate came before them they asked not what ara his mutual capacities; line he tnkon a degree—but has he graco, Sometimes, certainly, they might be compelled to take men who were not polished orators, but they obtained earnest men and good Christians. Rer. Mr Reid said that the time of the audience had ulreadj boon too long occupied, and he therefore would not detain them. In fact, he really had nothing to say, and hoped to be excueod. Ho noticod in the meeting a goodly number of children, and he hoped that they had listened with interest to what had fallen from provious speakers. They had been informed that evening that they belonged to the system of Methodism wherever it we* planted in New Zealand, and they hud also an opportunity of hearing ministers from many of tho districts. Mr Reid then detailed b6 some length his opinion of the itinerant system adopted by ttio Wesleyans, and stated that it was a means of bringing all members. of the body into friendly communion one with another. A collection was then made; it amounted to a considerable sum. The Rev. M> Lee, of Marlborough, eaid ho had had no intention when lie came to tha meeting of making a speech. Ho would toll them what he thought about the place ia which he lived. He would confese that ha had had some little misgivings when ho'finfc went there, all of which he was happy to esy had been done away with. Tho progreeiof the church was very natiefactory. Tha church was usually crowded on Sunday evening ; t\ia members of the church had also increased, and he should endeavour when he got back to persuade his parishioners to subscribe towards the enlargement of the building. Tho Chairman said that he should be moist happy to take the names of persons who wore willing to act as collector* for tUe fund. After singing a portion of the 101 th psalm, the meeting separated.