KNOX CHURCH

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12522, 18 June 1906, Page 9

KNOX CHURCH

At Knox Church, Beaky avenne, the BeT. Dr. Erwin, before commencing hLa sermon at the morning service, said he thought it fitting that he should say a few words respecting the great politician and (statesmen whoso sudden death had cost such a gloom over the -~ country, ■ and whose decease was being mourned by vast numbers as sncerely end deeply as the deceaso of an immediate relative would bo. It might bo that com«- might think any reference to each a subject was out of place in the pulpit, but he need not tell them that tluit was a view he did not endorse, as in his opinion it ignored the presence of God in history. He was of opinion > that God ac truly called some men to ■ be politicians as He called others to be preachers, although in the case of the former the might not be as distinctly recognised, as it must be in the cose of the latter. In epealring of a, politician one laboured under a great disadvantage, as the greater the man, \ «nd tho longor tame he has wielded his ' influence, the greater tho party strife which has gathered around him. It -■' might be that such a man could only be judged fairly and impartially when . he hae been for a sufficient time removed from the arena of party strife. • At tho present moment not only their own colony, but also the sister colonies of Australia, and even the Motherland, were paying tribute to fche ability •nd worth, and work, of our late Preniier, and when we considered tho character of those tributes, the sources from which tboy epmng, and tho wide area from which they came, they forced upon us a sense oP tho greatness of tho man who had called them forth. Iv his (the speaker's) humble judgment, when we thought of his foresight, his breadth w ouWook, and administrative ability, Oβ was a greater man than most of is, who were familiar with his power and work, and influenced as wo necesfiwily were by the detractions of opponents, realised him to bo. He supposed the title which Mr Setldon •ppreekted most, and the one which ho counted tho greatest honour, was tho one which the people themselvrK eonforcd upon him when they called him "The friend of the working man." Ho w *s tho tribune of the people, and it was a title of which any man might be proud, and he supposed there- was no , «ne who would question that ho abundantly earned tho right to that titlo. *or rnoro than thirteen years ho had '•oen the leading and dominant pmon••»y in this colony. During all that «ni« Jim power and influence had be«i and never et any timo was Jus influence greater than at tho moment of his passing. That popularity was itself tho testimony to the Ber nco which he had rendered to so many Time had had opportunity to t«st the quality of much of his leg'islai!«i and of his own loyalty to tho prinrapl<s which he nspoused —in such matws as that, if Mr Soddon's policy had not meant tho good of tho -rente-st • ; i!si . his Popularity would have vanned long ago- - A nation's welfare couw only bo promoted nnd maintained J* a nation's laws were calcuhitt-d to C°?"*° the. Good cf the whole pponlo. "« (the speaker) went further, and Slid wat any man who was tho means of fusing the fruits of labour and capital i . "o oc more fairly and widely distributed *?e> whether consciously or nnconecioiwly, serving tlie Kingdom of God. <. yreat wealth and extreme poverty wero '< Mimical .to goorlnwts. It was n>hU v ; ■WKI "wealth and wirkMness"; "poverty i>n<[ vice." He thought it bo "timed for sonio of Mr SedrWiV lcus•*uon that it was in the direction 3 jof J

, J this fairer distribution of tho comforts c , , of life, am) in so far as that was its r tendency, it had indirectly served tlio i cause of righteousness. Hβ did not t want, however, to enter upon, any <lir>h puttxl political questions, *ut, as Mi ii Scdiion s name must bo so closely Iden- - tilk\l with this form of legislation, he t felt constrained to jay &v much at y least in respect to it. Mr Sneddon's t o!d-age-pemions fchemq was the first y attempt in a British country to grapple, c with tho problem of thonged peor, in t a spirit of justice and «juity, and io - make such a provision as humanity t. taught us ought to bi> niado. without r causing the recipient to feel that he wra by recrdvinft it. If timo permitted, he would like to have said " something respecting Mr Seddon's services in the cause of education and other matters. In his recent visit to 1 Australia tho reception which ho met - with must Ikivo astoriiehed even his n warmest admirers. Politicians of all 3 (shades t>t opinion vied with each other i? to do liirn honour, aaul the rx>op!<» hailed. . linn «.s the e pontic of a new regime in , pclitjas. TUe opinions oxprctsod roil him and hLs work might be r.oir.o- , , what mollified, but they were in his s (the preacher'?) opinion, a forecast of the r verdict of tho future. f The choir rang Tennyson's "Croseinp; > tho liar," and tho final hymn was - "When tho Day cf Toil ie O : er." At r, tho close of tho service -Mr H. M. - Sohnson, tlio organist, played tho i Dead in "Saul. ,,