THE LATE F. A. WHIIAKER.

Evening Star, Issue 7252, 1 July 1887, Page 1

THE LATE F. A. WHIIAKER.

The Rev. W. J. Williams, editor of, the •New Zealand Methodist,' contributes the following interesting episode in the life of Mr F. A. Whitaker. He writes:—

The social position, education, and talents of the late Mr F. A. Whitaker were such as to mark him out as one of the rising men of the Colony. At one time it seemed safe to predict for him a place in the foremost rank of our public men. He will be missed and mourned by a wide circle of acquaintances. This event has awakened a personal reminiscence which, now that the one principally concerned has gone, may be becomingly narrated. It is the recital of an episode in Mr Whitaker's life with which few, perhaps, that knew him were familiar, and the knowledge of which will only serve to deepen respect for his memory and regret at his early decease. It was the writer's privilege to become somewhat intimately acquainted with Mr Whitaker during his residence in Coromandcl. At that time, perhaps the palmy days of Coromandel as a goldfields township, our church was attended by a motley congregation, representing nearly " all sorts and conditions of men." As the limited resources of a bachelor's establishment made it convenient for the minister to dine every day at one of the principal hotels, he often had the opportunity of meeting there the casual attendants at the church on Sunday. It was in this way we became personally acquainted with Mr Whitaker. As one of the most wide-awake hearers we observed in the church on Sunday wc soon fell into conversation with him on meeting him the following day. It was then that he related to us the story of an unsuspected chapter in his past life— a. story that has stamped itself indelibly upon our memory, and of which the following is a fair transcript : As he had spoken of London, and the fact that he had been admitted as a barrister at the Inner Temple, we happened to ask if he know John Macgregor, of " Rob Roy" fame? "Yes," he replied, "very well indeed. You will hardly believe it, but I was one of his 'set'once." "What set?" "Why, the City Mission preaching set?" "Nonsense!" "It is a fact." And then, to our astonishment, he proceeded to tell his story:—"My conversion," said he, "was one of the most remarkable things I ever heard or read of. As a child, I had no religious inclinations whatever; and the older I grew the less I cared for it. I left home early, and was sent to England to be educated. At Westminster School I was surrounded by influences utterly unfavorable to religion. Always fond of reading, I devoured eagerly every book I could lay hold of against Christianity, and before I was twenty I was a confirmed infidel. I had completely mastered the arguments against religion put forward by the ablest infidel writers, and was as strongly entrenched in my opposition to Christianity as it was possible for any person to be. The life I lived was in full keeping with my infidel principles, utterly godless and irreligious. Then there came a sudden change. Accidentally I was led to attend a religious service conducted by the Rev. W. Booth, of the East London Christian Mission. In that service I was converted. How it came to pass I cannot explain; the fact was as clear as noonday. It was not by the force of logic; it was by a power in the word spoken that to my dying day I shall always believe was the power of God. I was suddenly ushered into a new world. It was. not simply a change of view; it was a change of life. I was swung completely round" from the course I had been pursuing ; my mental and social habits were entirely revolutionised. My vaunted scepticism vanished into thin air; I had the best of all reasons for believing that there was nothing so true as the Gospel; nothing so certain as that Christ was the Saviour of the world. Full of joy and ardor, I threw myself eagerly into Christian work, and for two years labored, as opportunity served, with Mr Booth in connection with the East London Mission. In theatres, halls, and the open air it was my delight to set forth the Gospel that had brought such a wonderful change in my own life. Unhappily, through unwatchfulness, I lost the peace I then enjoyed, and fell again into a careless, irreligious course. But there is one thing I have not lost, and never can lose, and that is a strong conviction of the Divine origin of Christianity. I am often thrown into the company of sceptics, and instead of arguing with theml lay before them the facts of my own experience. I point out my utter antagonism to Christianity in opinion and practice. I then dwell upon the entire change of feeling and conduct that followed my conversion, and I ask them if they can account for that change on any other ground than that the Gospel is the power of God. And I findthat to be a mode of defence that usually reduces sceptics to silence." ■. Since the time when that sforyjras told, now several years ago, our only acquaintance with Mr Whitaker has been that furnished by the report of his aotions as a public man. The Mr Booth who was instrumental in his conversion has since become famous as the founder and "General" of the Army. Now that the sun of his life has so sadly and suddenly set, there is at least some comfort in the thought that he has borne with him to the end the conviction that there was One whose ear was never deaf to the cry of the needy, and whose heart was full of compassion for the lost.