"MAN TO MAN."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 760, 8 March 1910, Page 5

"MAN TO MAN."

'PLANS FOR ANGLICAN. MISSION. , SOME .STRAIGHT TALK. >,■■■ : ; ' There was some refreshingly,-plain and 6imple talk at. a men's meeting held ,in the; Diocesan Library, last .evening, to discuss ;with-the Eev. Canon Pollock and the Rev. H. A. Kennedy, (forerunners of' the Anglican Mission of Help) plans for the coming; mission. The meeting followed a well-attended service in St. Paul's - ProCathedral, at which Canon Pollock preached from ii. Corinthians vi. l:"We also as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace, of God in vain." Between forty and fifty men attended the after-meeting. Some of them cams from distant suburbs, and it was, plain that they were keenly interested in the mission project. Several of them urged that' their own Island Bay, Newtown, for example—should be given special meetings—and others thought that those, who were nearer churches should limit their claims in the interest of the backblocks. Difficnltiej of church work and weaknesses of church organisation were discussed. of speech was encwraged by the ambassatdiiiSi'of the ■ mission, and Gome interesting lay opinions were advanced. , ': 'If the-vicar. would insist;ih seeing the man of .the house as well as the"' women of the house; I think it would do a lot of good,'' observed one speaker. "When he comes to pay his visit in the afternoon he should ask when the 'boss' will be home."

I have an idea," said an Island Bay man/' that if the people won't go to the church, we should go to them Last Sunday our vicar was regretting : that we had not made arrangements to hold a service on the beach,. instead of in the church I think ,if the missioners could hold services 'on the beach they would have very , good results We should get a great number of people who never go inside. the church." . .

Another layman who thought the plana .already made might not be perfect wished to know who was responsible for saying where, the inissioners should or should not go. Was. it; the bishop, was it the clergy,.and wasJt meeting of lay. men like the present;,to. have no control of the mattar? it seemed to him that the laymen should decide. He: explained that he had not always been-a member of the Church of. England, but had previously belonged 'to;' a Nonconformist body. "They ; manage their clergy, 'the clergy don't manage them in the same'way." (Laughter)., "I'm ( very glad," replied- Canon' Pollock,' "that you don t manage • me." (More laughter.) At the same time ho believed that the Church was waking up enormously,' and after' the example of the Rev. Mr. -Woolcombe and other ministers would wake up . further to this fact: "it's no longer going to be the parson faying 'go!' it's going to be the parson saying 'come!' and the laymen who are going to say to us, 'We are com-, ing.' and applause.) Speaking; as he said, ' man to man"— which proved to be very simply, humorously, and colloquially, but at the same time with much earnestness and impressiveness, Canon Pollock replied to arguments and pleas put forward.' He could speak, he, said, both as a layman and as a parson, .for he had been a layman for an unusually long time before he became a;. parson,: " With' regard , to ■church ' attendance,' no one expected .that all doctors, barristers, or, merchants should be : of the first rank, yet "a lot of people think, that parsons are going to have heaven-sent eloquence. One feels inclined to say i 'Get up and try yourself.' (Laughter.) Some, of U8 have sat through very dull sermons, but it's a mean thing < alwavs : to 'cut one's duty when it comes to one's duty to God."

"One who has the child's heart and the gentle heart in the strong man's breast," was the canon's definition of a gentleman, and ho added, "I believe that only one man can make us free men and . true men and gentlemen—our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the, greatest gentleman that ever walked tne earth" In answer to requests for meetings in small places; he suggested that "there might not be enough cake's to go round. ,\ We don't believe in spreading the men: far and wide,. with a service' here and a , service there, but rather in' getting the centre hot; .and the-circumference will b< warmed.in due time." -, The- Rev; H. jV. ' Kennedy said - the greatest hope of the mission was that the local olergy would learn what the manl- - and methods of missions were, and that some of . them would find that they had the requisite gifts, and devote themselves- to similar work later. Under some pressure' from a questioner Canon Pollock admitted that to "make the attack" in its completest form "more troops" wonld be required than the fiftoen missibnors now arranged for. That would -mean more exptnse, as it "■was very difficult for a man to leave his work in England for seven mouths and come all the way _To New Zealand. For backblocks work it was desirable that ■ two men should come out from England and remain here permanently. "The men here , are hard enough- worked already. It ,is terrific" work : with the miles they have to cover. I have .been immensely, struck with the work those chaps are doing."- " Canon Pollock was pressed by ono layman to say if more money was required. He replied that it was net the business of the forerunners ,to. make any appeal; but he thought that if the bistep had a good round cheque it would ' ease . hia : mind. ■ .':• ■■