RANDOM MEMORIES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11470, 26 October 1931, Page 2

RANDOM MEMORIES

• •. . • // - . » tv '..( •/ ;• v v ' AND BRETHRESt ’ EaM/Y 'YEARS” IN . AUCKLAND.

Tim 75th- 'anniversary of fhOAuckland Presbytery; last. week (says -tho ‘'Star’’) will recall to the ; memory of Older, residents sortie: of; jtW.. “fathers' and brethren” of. long i'agb. Grave and ibverend' brethren jtKey were,-in tlio .early days,, somo.of them with long, flowing beards, . The most / jkitriardh a.1 1 'lriokihg of. all* rims ‘the Rev. John. Maoky, for many .years minister of Uio church at Pnpatoetoe. Mr. Macky had the misfortune to' Irish his sight;, but was mentally alert right to the end being ever listened to with the Igreatest; Respect -by. the members of tljo Presbytery, ; ' J On one occasion a country minister resigned from tho Church, giving as his rriason that the stipend ,ho was paid was not as much’ a s he . could earn as. a laborer oh the roads and adding iihat h© had a wife and family to provide for. A. rpotori was submitted to the Presbytery that .the communication he nob published ‘•in the Press. A,young reporter pre"sent claimed that the Presbytriry was an open court until it went into committee, and as the ~, letter had been, read in open meeting he was entitled'to use the shorthand note lie had taken. Of course, the reporter criuld hot speak to the' Presbytery, but Vhe Rev. R. F. MacNicol made the explanation for him. A hot; discussiori .followed; but the matter was finally settled by the .‘Rev. J. Maclty. rising and asserting that the reporter Was within his rights. Tie also expressed regret that blindness prevented him. from seeing a gentleman not. a Presbyterian • who kriew the Church law het- : ter than did apparently many of the members of the Presbytery/ A feature of the .meetings of >the Auckland Presbytery has ever been the freedom with which, members expressed' their opinions.. For instance, on one occasion a lay member. wanted to read a. paper on “Commercial Morality,” - and the “fathers . and brethren’’ did not seem to want to listen to : it. At length one afternoon in old St. Andrew's the business Was soon dispatched. The then clerk reiriarked that there might he an opportunity, for the paper on commercial morality to he read. This was proiriptly quashed by a clerical member saying, “We ministers arc riot business men, therefore whv should wo presume Io criticise those who' are? I claim that tho Presbvlory . is not the body to deal with such a, sub-' joet, and certainly Mr. -- is not the man to read it;,'” As tho gentleman hid been unfortunate in business yearg earlier bo took the'hint and never read bis paper. * 'Don IN THE PULPIT. Grey eld St. Andrew’s Church' is about, the last, place where one would expect, a dog to make its appearance in the pulpit, but such a thing did happen many years ago. Ono of tlie reporters owned a greyhound which, 'like Mary’s little lamb, followed him about. In those days Hie pulpit in St. Andrew’s was one of those old-fashioned affairs to which access was' attained by a circular staircase. At, one mooting just as the Presbytery was closing with’ prayer, the greyhound crept quietly into the church through the door of the vestry, ascended the stairs into the pulpit, and rested itp two front paws on the reading desk, while it lobked round to'fry to find its master. The owner saw the deg. first, and at one© began to walk out of tho; church as quietly as possible, but the dog also saw him arid made a -wild rush down the aisle. Even an incident like that failed to elicit a smile from the faces of' the' “fathers and brethren.” . STUCK TO THE RULES. All forms and cerefnonies were most carefully adhered to by the Presbytery, and there was sure to be a I,- least one member present who appeared to have learned all. the regulations hv heart and could quote page arid line when he spoke. In the old days no member could leave Iho Court without permission of tho Moderator.i Many years ago a vulnerable brother had forgotten a report) fie had to submit, and started out to get it from' his coat is the vestibule. The attention of the Moderator was called to the fact that a member was retiring wihout having got permission. “I’ll bo baolc in a moment,” said the minister. Solemnly and with dignity the Moderator arose arid said: ‘‘The attention of the Court having boon called to the matter, you must return to the front and ask permission.” This wa s - accordingly done. ELDER DROPS DEAD. ; . I One • afternoon there was a very sad occurrence at a meeting of the Presbytery. A “respectful overture” •was being presented by a delegation from a country charge, and one of the members was a.mp . very advanced in years, lie fiad only just" entered the church, and) when called upon to sneak had iust started when iho, fell back arid died* of heart failure. Ono vorinrr minister wars granted 1.2 months’ leave of absence without pay to go to’Scotland to sco His mother. Some months afterwards he was still lecturing in tho South, so' he was promptly. Summoned/ back bv the Presbytery. He, however, had a good defence, far he explained '.that lie had not been able to save enough money out of his stipend, so he was lecturing in tho South to raise funds. ~ ..., _ ■/ ~ /