HELPING HEATHEN.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1148, 8 June 1911, Page 2

HELPING HEATHEN.

NEEDS ABROAD. SOME SPIRITED APPEALS. A Methodist Foreign Mission Confer, once in connection with (ho visit to Wellington of tho Rev. J. G. Whoen, organising sccrctary of the Australasian Methodist Missionary Society, opened yesterday morning ill Wesley Church, Taranaki Street. Tho Rev. C. H. Olds presided in the absence of the Kev. J. G. Chapman, and in a brief speech extended a hearty welcome to Mr. Wheen. After a Scripture reading by the Rev. F. Kaiuls, tho Kcv. S. H. D. Perrymau delivered a devotional address, and tho liev. E. 0. Blamires read a paper giving n rcsunio of tho Edinburgh Missionary Confcrcnco reports. During the discussion which followed, Mr. Wheen expressed gratification at tho hopeful opening of the convention, and stressed tho need for increased ardour in missionary endeavour. As an example showing how great was tho need, Mr. Whoen cited tho fact that in New Britain 200,000 people wero living in a state of absolute heathenism. Labouring in Poverty. About GO persons, mostly women, attended tho afternoon session. After a brief introductory address by the Rev. J. Crowes, who presided, Mrs. L. 0. Blamires, as president of the Ladies' Auxiliary of tho Methodist Missionary. Society, spoke at some length upon tho subject of foreign missions. Tho address was in tlio main an eloquent appeal for further aid and support l'or the missionaries working abroad. Tho question as to why missionaries should bo sent to heathen lands, said Mrs. Blatuires, hid been answered time and again. Pcoplo in New Zealand wero not very much given to luxurious living, but, in view of the great need that existed abroad, wo could not help feeling that some things might bo done without in order to speed the work of tho Christian missionaries. Touching ujion llie privations undergone by foreign • missionaries, Mrs. Blamires mentioned the. case of Mrs. Harrison, who went from Otago to New Guinea. Recently Mrs. Harrison, being very ill, had to spsiul nearly a week in an open boat in trying to reach a placo where she could obtain aid. Even yet the fate of this missionary was uncertain. Suffering like that, the speaker declared, had to bo borne simply for lack of proper appliances and equipment to carry on the work. Surely the Methodists of New Zealand could do more to further tho labours of tho missionaries than they had dono in tho past. Everywhere the world was opening before the missionaries, and everywhere tho cry was being sent up, "Send forth more helpers."

The Timo and tho Hour. Dealing with the Laymen's Missionary Movement, Mr. H. X. Holmes (Y.M.C.A.) said this was a comparatively- modernmovement, having been initiated as recently as 190 G. Already, however, it had , achieved results so remarkable as to 1 arrest the attention not only of those who were interested in missionary work, but of all Christian workers. At tho present time .strategic openings for missionary enterprise existed in China," Japan, and Korea. The Christian Cluirch, according to missionary experts, was now in a position to infuse a Christian spirit into tho Nationalist movement that was rising in India. Similar openings existed in Persia, Turkey, and in Africa, particularly in Egypt. Thcve wero opportunities everywhere. This was tho time and tho hour. Tho Laymen's Mis-' sionary Movement was a united uprising of tho strong business men .of the .world. They wero united to make, tho teaching of Christianity a possibility all over tho world during . this generation. This movement had swept over and created intense interest in Canada and the United States. It had resulted in enormously increasing tho support poured out ~ the countries named, on bo-" -half of foreign missions. The Laymen's Missionary Movement had created no now.' missionary organisation. -Its object Vas:,; to 1 stimulate, : lhc interest of men in thoalready supported by their," churches, and to induce them to support them more, liberally. Already tho movement had extended to Great Britain and to Australia. The Laymen's Missionary Movement said first to men not, "givp' but "pray." Then it asked.men to so that they might know and understand the needs of missionaries engaged in working abroad. Next, men wero asked to bear in mind the necessity of service. If. they could not go abroad themselves they wero asked to help olher men to go. Lastly, men were - asked to give largely in support of missions, not to any particular fund, but into tho channels of their own churches. Union Foretold, The attendance at the monster missionary tea, held at 0 p.m., in tho hall adjoining Wesley Church, taxed the accommodation of tho building. After a brief introductory speccli by ■ the Rev. J. G. Chapman, the Rev. G. J. W. Spenca (president of the Methodist Confercnco) and tho Rev. G. H. Mann (president of the Primitive Methodist Conference), in turn, extended a welcome to Mr. .Wheen. Mr. Mann made passing reference to tho union which is at present the subject of negotiation between the two churches. "We are now forging ono of the strongest link' of union between two churches, said Mr. Mann, "in the fires of a desiro to reach out to the heathen/' . Replying, tho Rev. J. G. AMicen said ho felt his position between the presidents to bo prophetic. Whatever might divide the churches, there, was complete unanimity in regard to missions. Concludin", Mr. Wheen expressed the gratitude lie felt for-the spew id work performed by the Women s Auxiliaries of tho Dominion. Islands of tho Sea. Weslev Church was comfortably filled in the 'evening by a congregation which assembled to hear the Itev. J. t.. speak upon the subject of "llio South Sea Islands for Jesus Christ At tho nneniiiK, the massed Methodist choirs ot Wellington, led by Sir. 'I. t.ooper. sang "How Lovely Are the Messengers and "0, Thou That Tellesl. Mr. 11. J. HGrave presided. With him on the platform were the Revs. C. 11. Olds, J. Crowes, J. It. Clark, and E. 0. Blaniires. In the courso of iiis address Mr. AUjccn declared that no man or woman could bo ■ a true Methodist and be on of sympa, l.y with the missions of the Chiistion Church. They belonged to a great church which, from its very inception, had been missionary in outlook, and in-traditions, "!,d must bo missionary in enterprise Tho Methodist Church was represented bj missionaries in five island groups in tho South Seas, Samoa, Fiji, Wv Britain, P°nun,'and- tho Western Solomons. Three-quarters of a century ago there were no Christians in any of the groups named, with tho exception of Samoa, loday tho missionaries ministered lo congregations numbering 112,000 souls, flo Methodist missionaries numbered- a tlttlo over 70. Thev wero assisted by oyer ono hundred' native ministers and hundreds of native teachers. '1 ho work alread) doue had led tho chnrch to an annual expenditure of over ,£35,000, appeals from tiio mission field that ought to bo attended lo would entail an expenditure of ,£II,OOO a year, livery man and woman, old and young, would have to assist. If each Methodist family in New Zealand would givo threepence per week t- forc\a\\ missions, the nonunion contiiuulion would aggregate Zealand contributed ,-C2boo. Mr. Wheen made a strong appeal to his hearers to do their part in providing the funds for lack of which the missions were distress-' ed. Pioneer Methodist missionaries, Mr. Wheen stated, entered the Western Solo- - mons in 1002. The islands were then inhabited bv u race of fierce head-hunters, but the missionaries had already mado wonderful progress ill Christianising tho natives. * 111 Fiji, the whole native nopulatinn had been converted from heathenism. Of a population of 00,000, no. fewer than 83,000 wero Methodist converts, and nearly onehalf wero fully accredited members of . the Methodist Church.