IN MEMORIAM.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXX, Issue 1799, 8 April 1904, Page 6

IN MEMORIAM.

THE LATE MR JOJIN SOMERYTLLE

The Rev. Mr Dalrymplc made reference to the death of the lute Mr John Somervillo at the services ut the East Clutba Church on Sunday. last. He ehßse for his text Hebrews vi, 10-12. He said that this joyous and animating passage reminded us of a bright picture with a dark background, and dwelt shortly oil the passages leading up to the toxt. The particular service referred to is Christian work entered upon from love to God's name. Sen ice is due from every ona -who acknowledges the Lordship of Christ, mi it is specially looked for from those who are officebearers in the Chlistian C hurch, but everyone according as he hath received the gift. A Christian congregation in modern times affords ample scope to Christ's servants for many various forms of activity. The Rev. gentleman concluded an impressive and thoughtful discourse as follows In this age of intense seculat;®ctivity it is reassuring to iind that the Christian people moved by the common impulse are showing increased interest in Christian work. Missions to the heathen and eli'ort.s to carry the Gospel to the non-church-going classes at home are more popular than in any former age. This is matter f. r congratulation. We may well take it as a cheering sign of the coining of the kingdom. But this new activity is apt to be accompanied by en excessive love of novelty, by a demand " for sensational projects and methods, and by a tendency to attach less importance to the time-honoured institutions- and activities of the chu- . rch. To put it briefly, we are tempted in our zeal for missions and special evangelistic services to underrate the importance of maintaining in full strength and in undiminished purity the life of the ( hristian congregation. As the result, while we honour the missionary mid crowd to hear the evangelist we are in some danger of estimating less highly than we ought the steady, sober and unsensational work done by the officebearers and members of our congregations in maintaining religious ordinances and.in fostering the religiius life of the communi v. And yet this latter work is the fundamental work and should have our constant care. The general who in conducting a campaign should neglect Lh base and his depots in his eagerness to advance into the enemy's territory would l:e unsparingly censured and would expose himself to disastrous defeat. And we must not forget that after all the existing Christian church has as its unit the'congregation,so that upon the life and health and activity of our cc.ngregat ions depends the very life of the church itsilf. just as upon the life of the church depends the continuance and the success of ail undertakings to diffuse the light and joy of Christianity throughout the world. Let no officebearers in the church, or Chiistian workers then think lightly of this work because it has no romance associated with it. but is largely of a routine nature. Let them not In.' discouraged by th(; comparative obscurity in which they labour. They, too, are needed. Nay they arc working at the very centre. Theirs is to keep alive the central lire of Christian life, theirs to keep shining brightly the central light from which every ray must go forth that is to take its part in the illumination of the world. Last Sabbath we committed to their resting place the mortal remains of one who throughout a long life faithfully did his duty in this respect to the Master whom lie loved and the church which he served. It is not ray intention to speak to you to-day of the life and character of John Somervillc. I had, it is true cn intiniutc fellowship with him for 18 years, and had many opportunities of perceiving his sterling qualities as man and Christian ; but he was known to you nil, and among the numbers who followed him to the grave, the universal feeling was that a good man had beui removed, that a useful and honourable career had been brought to a close. I do widi, however, to emphasise his zeal for the phurch of Christ and the sincere enduring faith bv which that zeal was animated. He was an ecclesiastic of special type. Would it were more common ! He never sought prominence. He rather shrank from attendance in church courts. But in everything pertaining to the church's welfare he took a keen and intelligent interest, the interest of a man who believed and felt that fo; the community as well as for the individual, truth an 1 righteousness constituted the one thing needful and that they alone coul I truly and permanently exnit a people. His common sense, his sound judgment, his tact and his liaeral and generous sentiment were brought with unwearying enthusiasm to the service of the church, and in all these there was the most complete and manifest absence of selfseekiny or of ostentation. He was conservative as every good man must be, but his e. -n----servalism was not of the dogged unthinking type which resist all change. On this I am perhaps better able to speak than most cf you, for I had cf-en t\> admire his openness of mind and the generous liberality of his sentiments towards those from whom he dilTcred. One striking feature was his love for tie house of God. When in health he was never absent from his place oh the Sabbath Pay. His piety j was real. No man who knew him | ever dreamt of questioning it. ITe loved his Bible, and from his Bible he! learned to love the sanctuary. I can-i not imagine that any difficulties with j his brethren or any personal grievance, i had such occurred, would have; kept him away. His was the almost passionate love of the psalmist—"Tf I for-j pet thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right j hrnd forget her cunning." Say, if you ! will, that this was the result of hnbit. ye't it was hal.it built on the- deep convictions of a lifetime. Such habit-: constitute the ultimate work and dignity of man. We are all disposed to say that by the removal of our friend a great blank has been made. And yet this is only relatively tnie. He be-iwr deed yet speaketh. As far as i his life was exemplary he is now one of the great cloud of witnesses. It is also true that his work was completed. He l\ad long passed the tlu'ee-

s ore years and ten, which the psalm-i-t regarded as the ordinary limit of life, and it was meet that ho should be relieved. We do not grudge him his well-merited rest. ''Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours and their works do follow them."