THE LATE REV. R. S. GRAY

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 71, 19 December 1922, Page 6

THE LATE REV. R. S. GRAY

CHRISTCHURCH TRIBUTES. BY TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. Christchurch, December 18. Tho nc>73 of the’ death of the Rev. R. S. Gray came as a great shock to the congregation of the. Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, of which he was pastor for ten years. The pulpit yestcribi was draped with black. The Rev. F. E Harry, of Wellington,, was ti-<-preachdr for the day, a “ d " ing the sudden death of his friend he moved a resolution of sympathy with Mrs. Gray and the bereaved fainilj, which the congregation carried by rising. In the evening Mr. Harry abandoned the subject upon which ! e was expected to speak, and preaonpci a powertuT funeral sermon from the v ords ‘‘Thine « v es shall see the King in His beauty.”” He referred t 0 Air. work ’as pastor of Nelson, Chnstehurch, and Dunedin Churches, to tho splendid service he had for some years accomplished as secretary /of the New Zealand ‘Baptist Union, and of ,tne Foreign Missionary Society, f-nd to ,-.ow he wts looked upon as the special friend and helper of all vhe si, aller churches. Reference was also.made to- his strenuous labours on behalf ot P 1 At b the n burham Street Methodist Church in the evening, the Rev. W Readv referred to Mr. Gray s fine eighties as a citizen, as a man, as a Christian, and as a reformer. . He was broad-minded, self-sacrificing, and neither a time-server nor a manP1 Mr eI L. M. Isitt, M.P., paid the following tribute to the late Mr Graj . “His death will rob New Zealand of one of its ablest and noblest citizens. His life is a complete reply to the cheap sne-er that men are not prepared to make sacrifices for their religion. He left the service of a bank to enter a big business enterprise offering sure wealth, as both his partners were wealthy men, but he chose for the rest of his years the arduous work of a minister of the Baptist Church at a limited stipend. . He was the most effectivo preacher in his Church. He did splendid service for many years in the no-license cause. The gap his death, has caused in the ranks of workers will not easily be filled. There was in him nothing of what is supposed to be summed up m the v ord ‘wowser.’ Ho was genial, humorous, mentally alert, and keen of sympathy. His ready grasp of salient points always led me to think that he would have made an excellent politician or statesman.”

A memorial service will be held in the Vivian Street Baptist Church at 10.30 o’clock this morning. The funeral will loavo the church for the Karon cemetery at It.