BALCLUTHA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXIII, Issue 1165, 30 October 1896, Page 7

BALCLUTHA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

The annual congregational and social meetings in connection with the Presbyterian Church, Ba^clutha, were held on the evenings of the 15th, and 21st inst. At the former the financial statement from the deasons' court was -read and, after some, criticism, on the questions chiefly of the sustentation fund and the seat rents, unanimously adopted. The sustentation fund returns reported a small increase from last year as did also those for missions and the ordinary collections. The folf lowing are some of the items i—Sustentation fund, L 142 5s (made up out of ordinary collections to L 200) ; ordinary coliee'ions, L 134 16s lOd ; seat rents, L 34 17s 6d ; missions, L 23 4a In addition, however, to this latter sum thrro are the contributions from the Endeavour Society and the Sunday school, making a gross total for missions for the year of L 49 Is 4d, On the expenditure side we note : — Sustentation fund, L2OO ; supplement, L2O ; church officer, L 25 ; choir, L2O ; the two latter, items making with sundry small accounts, a gross total of LB2- 12s 10d for working expenses. Other reports (re session work — the communion, evangelistic services, week night service, the Sunday schools, Y.P.8.C.E., the service of praise, the deacons' court) neatly printed, along with the fimnchl statement were also submitted and contained items of interest. In the Sunday school report j we notice that hearty acknowledgement is made of the services of Messrs J. Bremner, 0. Dallas and T. M'Kee who with some 15 assistant teachers carry on the work in the three schools connected with the congregation. One thousand fourhnndred copies of periodicals have been distributed during the year. The Y.P.S.C.E. reports that through the literature committee some 50 homes are regularly visited and supplied with good reading. Under the ' Service of Praise " report an appeal is made to the congregation to make more of the weekly practice and so help on the congregational singing. Altogether the reports are the fullest yet presented and will no doubt by the members of the congregation be appre elated accordingly and carefully read. The annual soiree which was held on the 21st inst., was favored with good i weather and got a crowded attendance. j The Rev. MrOurrie occupied the chair, and in his few. introductory remarks asked that the reports, etc., be carefully read by the members and adherents "of the congregation. A special feature of the meeting was a lecture from the Rev. J. Gibb of Dunedin on • Pompeii and Vesuvius : a glimpse of a dead world. 7 The lecture, it is needless to say was exceedingly interesting and able and well delivered and was certainly well received. During the evening a strong choir, under the careful leadership of Mr Valentine, rendered, in a very pleasing manner, several anthems and Quartettes were given by Miss Clark, Mrs Bentley, and Messrs Bremner and Jack, by Mrs Valentine, Mrs R. Paterson and MessrsTOhristie and Jack, and by Mis Jack, Mrs Bentloy, and Messrs Sheddan and Jack. Mrs R. Grigor presided at the organ. After tea and cake, plentifully supplied by the ladies of the congregation, had been partaken of, votes of thanks to the ladies who had provided so liberally and had worked so hard during the day, to the choir, especially to Mr Valentine and Mrs Grigor, and to Mr Gibb were proposed by. Messrs T. A. Johnston, J. Agnew, arid J. Turnbull and passed with acclamation. The following is a summary of Mr GiWs address:— He commenced by; giving, a very intelligible idea of the relative positions of Naples, Vesuvius, and Pompeii, and of the old proverb * See Naples and die.' He was entirely at variance with the intended panegyric on the Italian city in which he found enough filthiness and bacT smells to cause anyone to die but riot with admiration. The residents of the city were dirty and indolent, but outside were beautiful vineyards carefully tilled by a frugal industrious peasantry, a

remarkable contrast. The ascent of Vesuvius was utterly devoid of romance, ) the energy of \.the; world-, famed Cook's Tourist Agency having organised a system by .which" tourists were sent up in vehicles .drawn by trules most of the. distancp, and the remaining 100 yards, one could be carried, if he wished, in, a chair. With reference to this trip, he told an interesting: story of the behaviour of a Yan kee tr io . w ho occupied the same, carriage—^evidently wealthy but unrefined — and caustically remarked 'You can easily notice; the opinion the Lord has of riches when you see the kind of people he gives it to/ The party got within: 300 yards of the lip of the crater and with regard, to getting any closer Mr Gibb said they never before realised the volume of truth which was embodied in the Well worn axiom 'discretion is the better part of valour.' They cou ld;f eel the- heavy and hurried panting of the fiery heart of Vesuvius. Every few minutes showers of red hot stones were ejected and with thene a great cloud of steam. All around the ground was hot and smoke was coming out. At last one explosion bigger than the others came belching out ; they had had enough and to a man fled. Following this the lecturer-gave* very vividly an account of the burial of Pompeii in the .middle of the night some .2000 years ago, together with a fine conception of the awful scerfe which followed as gathered largely from the records of Pliny and Tacitus. In describing the ruins . he said his first impression was one of disappointment as for a city with a former population estimated at 50,000, measured by the size of our modern cities it was very small/ ' The extreme length was only two-thirds of a mile, the breadth one-third of a mile and 2925 yards round the walls of the town. The streets were so narrow that even in the principal parts a modern dray could not pass along. However this impression was quickly dissipated as he was shown the evidences of past grandeur and splendid architecture in the buildings around, and their appearances together with the train of thoughts they suggested were fascinating. It was, he considered, when one saw from such ruins the opulence of the third and fourth rate cities of the Roman empire such as this had been that they realised the magnificence of its extent and power in olden times. An analysis of the buildings of the town showed a keen observer how conspicuous had been the absence of altruistic influences in those days of Paganism. There were no hospitals,although it was shown that in some surgical matters the Pompeians were equal to present day attainments, but this skill was only available for the wealthy. The houses were either mansions or dens, the middle and artisan classes, which under Christianity formed the backbone of our civilisation, having evidently been nonexistent,, while the gaols were horrifying historians of how they had treated their lawbreakers. Two theatres and an amphitheatre were evidence of the tendency of the inhabitants so indnlge freely in theatrical amusements, and more especially gladiatorial contests. As regarded morals he asserted that Pompeii had been as Sodom and Gomorrah, its heart of stone, its whole life dead to honour, dead to decency, dead to shame, vile and putrid, and its iniqities called aloud to heaven demanding that doom, which, sooner or later, overtakes the persistent and wilful sinner, demanding the doom which fell upon its face and blotted it out of the earth." In conclusion he asked those who were Christians to maintain and defend with t eir whole heart and mind the religion that had wrought so salutary and marvellous a change on human society since the days of Pagan Pompeii, and those who did not profess Christianity themselves be asked not to do anything which would weaken its influence. It was his profound and deliberate conviction that if the nations of the present day were to shake off the yoke of Christ what had been before would return and swiftly too. Deprive us of the Christian, faith and we should speedily descend from our present civilisation.— The lecturer was heartily applauded at the close and also frequently during his address.