MR JOHN G. WOOLLEY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12588, 24 August 1901, Page 2

MR JOHN G. WOOLLEY.

— VISIT TO CHRISTCHURCH. . Mi* John G. Woolley, the American lecturer, Was greeted hy a crowded audience Avhen lie appeared in the Canterbury Hall last evening, and delivered his first lecture in Christchurch. He is spate in figure and sa height. His face is full of expressions, seine of them qiiadnt enough; his eyes tAviilkle through spectacles with humour; and his speech, style and manner are essentially AilknOili. The Mayor (Mr A. E. G. Rhodes), who presided, said, that the people e! Christchurch Aver® only too glad id welcome friends fibM the Umled SfeUil like Mr Woolley, and too few of thenl cafne this v.ay. * . Thera Was a round of applause when th© lecturer stepped forward. ,In alow and deliberate tends, He Opened HRs tem Arifs by an analogy, ho said tihaaj when a good teaih goes on the tetul, the Avlitp Is sometimes -a good tiling, but it AVaa better for ■bites most part to ute kind 1 dud oncourtgraig words. He idearit i-5 indicate that th® PMlibtfidfi team in if6w Zeailririd needed no Avhip,. Lately he hod been studying 'NeW Eealahd Rrolbitioniste, They were straining to get out of ih© Valley of the shadow of legalised iniquity to the' tablelands Of mUfllcipAl arid national righteousness. He avos just now standing..oil the King’s highway writcliiiig the Inarch Of ih© greatest of rateriiisj alii dheering the reformers. The Prohibitionist team, as he hadWtiakated,' wag an tffieT'fdd did; riot need pupghipeijV but .rat her encouragement. There Nvere brave and true men and! AvomCti engaged in the work of the cause. Tho Prohlbitionsts had a large contract before tbepi, Yet the mbvemerit was gaining ground in every nation of the earth at this moment; Men and women Aver® throwing themselves; heart and. soul, Into the movement. He felt that the tear denriy Would continue, thafe the coming |eni6rati6ii would 1 see in Cathedral Squatet Christchurch, monuments erected ,to like Isit-ts arid „ the Tayloys-rr(applkuse) i -r'aind others who had borne the heat and hurdfen of the. day. . passing on, and illustrating m alLegorical lecture with many qnain't illusions and turns of expression which; caused rippkf of laughter, the iectuter depicted' hia idea of what he Avould like if he made a second visit do Christchurch at a future date. He would riot,like to be heralded by advertisements, bills and posters. He Avould prefer to com© without these, arid in seme small and quiet place meet those who had bom© affliction rind persecution, who had yet stood straight in these days, and had dared to, be prohibitionists.. “ A Sower ” was the title of the lecture, and Mr' Woolley passed on to it. ' “A sowen went forth to sow.” The Master hod usfed the words. The sower aVmt a poor, half-fed ma»{ with heavy wooden shoes,. Or, perhaps, no shoes afc rill. He picked his wriy among the rocks arid thorns along a dreary, barren hilLside, flinging haildfillS of grain behind him—to be eaten up by .stupid gulls. He was Only “a ’’ indefinite article “a” Was used; lie was not even “the” sower. /£hey\cquHi oofc get much idWeri than, that On a farm.. What Avas his name? He. had none. .Where had he come from? Nowhere. Who loved him? No one. He was Mr Nobody, of nowhere. But it was by the Mr and Mrs Nobodies that, this world Wris to he saved, and not by the professional people of one Sort arid another. The prohibition movement Whs like the Sower. It Avas humble, and it® load 1 AVaS Heavy and the road Avas.hajrd. But the ■prohlbiiUoniiSts should “ go their. gait ” for Jesus Ohrist’s sake, and do what they c6uld. Let God. save the World. He had made, it, arid He was {©sponsible, and would save it. Let theni keep their hands clean enough and their hearts strong enough for the time when He catted, them. Let them “go their gait” and “sow their s.eed ” uiltiil the bell rang them off their shift at the close .of tlieir little day. The “sower” had stuck to his task, in Spite of difficulties-; aid prohibitionists should do the same. As he persisted, however, so should the prohibitionists persist. If the cleaning of politics needed the ■ doing, let them do it, and and do it themselves atid at once. The “sc-Aver” had “ go-forthness.” That huimblo riiah Avoirld l go out into the highways to cany , out his duties. By folloAving the “ sosver’s ” exampl?, they would make politics, hiiiri in this, country. In- the morning newspapers if* Ghrietolinroh they aa-ouM see perhaps half a. column, of church notices Avhich Avould strike them queeriy, if tltfey thiougbt of tho subject. What Avould they thank of a farmer avlio Avent out and stood on a stump and said' “ Now let all the land that is round about com© to be planted ; lam about to soaV?” That Was the Wriy the people bl kips' colony Wet© trying to 1 clean- its politics and save the country. Here -was a free anil substantial interpretation of one of the church notices his audience -would read in the morning :—’“Tomorrow, at 10.30, and again at 7.30, the Rev of Sp-arid-So, is about-to soav, and jua ©A-erybody Avho wants to be sdAvn should come and be sown.” And unclean politicians continued to hold pOAver arid th© Chtifcb continued to languish,. And people continued to dry, out because preachers did not clean up the world. But the “scivrer” died. .He was buried in an out-of-the-way place, and no monument Avas placed to mark the spot, as, the “soAver” had no iiariie. Yet he had lived long eridugli jo .'iow pis reed, arid it brought forth good fruit. That Avas the lesson; he Had sown good seed, arid those m ( his audience ihnst soav their seeds. A free man’s vote was the greatest seed that could be soAvn in the country. They must soav their seeds, and trust to the. chemistry of God Almighty’s surisbin-e and rain to get what He desired fre-ro the seed. The allegorical lecture Avas intermingled Avith good stories about the speaker’s experience as a “ gentleman farmer ” and his dealings Avith horses and so on, and the interest of the audience was maintained 'right through. Mr Woolley tePumed h'ls seat amidst loud applause, Avhioh broke out again when a vote cf thanks was Carried on the motion cf the Rev J. Ward, seconded by Mr Tj E. Taylor. This evening Mr .Woolley will lecture in. the same hall cn “The People’s Power,” and tb-inorfoAV evening on “ Personal Responsibility.”