PRESBYTERIAL JUBILEE

Press, Volume L, Issue 14883, 24 January 1914, Page 5

PRESBYTERIAL JUBILEE

PRESBYTERIA2TCSM IN CANTERBURY. A NOTABLE CELEBRATION. On the eleventh of February next the Christchurch Presbytery is to celebrate tho fiftieth anniversary of its existence, and though tho celebrations, as befits a court of the Church, will be quiet and, to a certain extent, unostentatious, the jubilee is a notable one. Though Canterbury is commonly believed to have bean settled by Anglicans, there were Scottish Presbyterians settled on the Plains before the first four 6hips arrived. Messrs William and John Deans, who named Riccarton after tho parish in Ayrshire in which they wore born, and re-christened the Putare Kamutu the Avon, after a Lanarkshire stream, did not look upon the plains as did thoso intending settlers from New South Wales, who turned away from them as being "the most God and man forsaken place on the face of the earth." "With tho Deans brothers came the Gebbie and Manson families —in all, six adults and six children. The Presbyterial jubilee, consequently, takes us back almost to the beginning of settlement in j Canterbury. It was in 1857 that St. Andrew's Church, tKe first Presbyterian | church in Christchurch, was opened. Presbyterian services had been conducted in the Wesleyan churches in Christchurch and Lyttelton. The site for St. Andrew's had been secured come time previously, and it is alleged that tho Provincial Government was greatly influenced in granting it by.the statement of the then Commissioner of CrdVn Lands (Mr W. G. Brittan) that "the Presbyterians were a respectable body of people.". FIRST MEETING OF PRESBYTERY. The Presbytery of Canterbury as the body was originally designated, first met in St. Andrew's Church on January 16th, 1804 —less'than two years after tho meeting of the first General Assembly in Auckland. The roll of the first Presbytery was as follows: —Rev. George Grant, minister of Banks Peninsula; Rev. William Kirton, minister of Kaiapoi: Rev. William Hogg, minister in tho 'Ashley* and Hurunui districts; Mr George Duncan, elder, Christchurch ; Mr James Gillespie, cider, Banks Peninsula. Mr John McMillan, elder, being present, was asked to tako his seat with the Presbytery and assist in the meeting, and his name was added to tho sederunt. The fathers and brethren settled down, after devotional exercise, to hard work. Tho Rev. William Kirton was elected Moderator, and one of the first matters dealt with was the appointment of a committee to draw up an address to his Honour, the Superintendent. The address, drawn up subsequently and forwarded, was a combination of courtesy and business, as Trill be gathered from its perusal:— ADDRESS TO THE SUPERESTDENT. "T& his Honour, Samuel- Bealey, Esq., Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury. "Sir, —We, tho undermentioned members of the Presbytery of Canterbury in connexion with tho Presbyterian Church in New Zealand,'beg, on the occasion of our first meeting, to convey to you as the highest civil authority of this Province the expression of our respect for the civil institutions of the colony and settlement", and our desire to co-onerato with all duly constituted authorfties-in promoting the religious and jother interests of the community. We beg to forward to you at tho sanio time an extract minute of tho Presbytery respecting tho manner in which we would desire that communications should, be carried on between, your Honour's'- Government and thia Presbytery as tho highest local authority of this Church. We trust that you may "β-tjer :"bd enabled to maintain ;and: promote those principles of sound morality and Christian faith which are the surest foundations of all real prosperity, and that you may lon-g continue to enjoy the blessing "of Alaighty God in tho discharge of your important duties. — (Signed) William Kirton, Moderator." In duo course came the following letter from his Honour: — "1 have the honour to acknowledge tho receipt of the memorial of the members of tho Presbytery of Canterbury and in roply to inform you the expressions of respect and desire to cooperate with tho duly constituted authorities in promoting the religious and other interests of the community are a source of great satisfaction to mo ond Government.— (signed? ». Bealey, Superintendent." EARLY ACTIVITIES. At this same initial meeting of the Presbytery tho Rev. W. Hogg f «ave an interesting account «f his la oours in North Canterbury, and reported that Mr Loith had offered a free -aft of a section in-tho township of Leithfield for I a manse. It is also recorded that ' the I Beadle of St. Andrew'g Church was apI pointed Presbytery otacer at the present yearly salary of £2 sterling. The clerk (the Rev. C. Fraser) presented a document "purporting" (note tho caution of the enronickr) to be a call to the Rev. Georgo Grant, Akaroa, to bo minister of a second chareein Christchurch. The call was sSrted by Messrs Wilson, Macplier£sTSd Anderson and was dmjr sustained. This was the beginning of St. S Church. Mr Grant was duly inducted in the Town Hall (which the Christchurch of those days. po«e»jj. and which was rented for church purposes by the Presbyterians) on April "Oth 186-t. Another portion of the business done by the Presbytery at its first meeting was the appointment of the Revs. G. Grant and C. Fraser and Mr J. Gillespie "to visit the Presbyterians in Lyttelton and examine into their religious state." AN INTERESTING INCIDENT. An' interesting incident, illustrative of the democratic principles underlying the governance of the Presbyterian Church, happened in connexion with the Lyttelton charge a few years later. Tho Rev. Jas. D. Ferguson was preaching in Lyttelton in 1865, and two fruitless attempts were made to call him to that charge. In due course the Rev. John Gow arrived, and preached at port. The Presbytery was in an awkward predicament, and to get over the difficulty appointed a Kirk Session, and instructed that it should meet on December 12th, to decide what should bo done. Tho Kirk Session duly met, but to their astonishment they were roid that the Revs. Fraser and Campbell had gone to Lyttelton to ordain Mr Gow. It was decided to draw up a protest, and an appeal against tho proceedings. The duty of delivering tho protest fell to the Rev. W. Hotrg, who called a cab from the nearest stand and started off post haste for port. When tho cab could go no further up the Bridle Track, Mr Hogg leaped from his seat, and taking off his coat and vest, he rushed up the hill. In his endeavours to reach Lyttelton in time, he deserted the beaten track, and took advantage of all neax-cnts. Panting, and perspiring, and much excited he entered the church as Mr Fraser finished reading the Scripture lesson, and had just sufficient strength am! breath to say: "In my own name I and in the name of others who have signed this document, I protest and appeal against these proceedings." j Nevertheless, the cpremony went on. j The appeal came before the General Assembly, but that court felt obliged to adopt fhe recommendation of a committee set up to iaves-

tigate the matter, which was that "sinco Mr Gow is. now discharging the duties of his office with apparent success, it would be unwise to disturb the settlement." ' As a earing clause it was also recommended that the decision j .was not to be viewed as a precedent, j OTHER MATTERS. j At one of the meetings in .the early days the question of religious instruction in the Government schools came up, the Presbytery being asked what arrangements it intended making for tho religious instruction of the Presbyterian children. It was found impossible to fix any hours, owing to the small number of Presbyterian ministers in the settlement, but it was hoped that tho ministers would have access to the schools at all reasonable hours for tho purpose specified. The establishment of churches at Timaru, at Lincoln, and at other centres in Canterbury gradually increased the number of members of the Presbytery, and added to its importance. At the mretine - on March 2nd, 1876, the Christian TTberality of Mr Goorgo Rutherford, of Leslie Hills, met with due recognition. Mr Rutherford having given an acre of land to the congregation' at Waiau, and built thereon, at his own expense, a church capable of holding seventy people. To adequately summarise the history of the Christchurch Presbytery would involve a summary of the extension of the Presbyterian Church in Canterbury. I , or the' present it must suffico to say that the Presbytery has grown with the_ provincial district, has increased its. activities, .and Ims worthily maintained tho traditions of Presbyterianism. THE JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS. Tho question of the form that the celebration of the Jubilee , of tho Presbytery should take has been referred to a committee which has not vet quite decided upon all tho details. The Presbytery is to hold an ordinary meeting on February 11th—the date fixed for the celebration—and it is proposed that there should bo a Presbvterinl lunch, and that in the evening a public meeting should be held, to be attended by members of the Presbytery and by representatives of the different Church organisations. ■■