METHODIST COLLEGE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 169, 16 June 1927, Page 6

METHODIST COLLEGE.

FOUNDATION STONE LAID. EPOCH-MAKING CEREMONY. AUCKLAND, Juno 15. An epoch-making ceremony in the history of Methodism in New Zealand was performed to-day, when the foundation-stone of the Trinity Methodist Theological College, at the corner of Grafton and Carlton Gore roads, was laid by the Governor-General (Sir Charles Fergusson) in the presence of a large assemblage of ministers and prominent Church workoiw. The chairman (Professor H. Ranston), president of conference, addressed the gathering. “Despite criticism, the Church retains a hold on men and women,” said Dr. Ranston. “There remains true affection between the minister and his people, but in this age of competing interests, of fluidity in man’s conceptions, more than ever before he must be a fully-trained man.” People quickly sensed a lack of depth and genuineness, said the speaker, and in this era authority reposed less in the office than in the man. The principal (Rev. C. H. Laws), in a statement relative to the development of theological instruction in Methodism in Auckland, described the day’s ceremony as epoch making. “The hopes of many men through the years are coming to fruition,” he said, “and we may well believe that from this event new and important developments will arise to shape the after policy of the Church.” “I can sympathise with your satisfaction in seeing your dream of a great theological training centre about to be realised,” said the GbvernorGeneral. He congratulated the promoters of the scheme on their success and the contributors to its cost on their generosity in raising over £40,000 in 12 months. That more young men were offering for the ministry was pleasant hearing. Usually they were insufficient for the harvest, said Sir Charles, who proceeded to allude to the changing times in which we live, and the call for men with a knowledge of the world and a preparedness to meet a new era with a wider vision. After His Excellency had laid the foundation-stone, Rev. D. C. Herron, president of the Council of Christian Congregations, delivered a brief address. It was not impossible, he said, that an arrangement might be arrived at whereby Methodist students in the south should be trained at Knox College, and Presbyterian students in the north at Trinity College, provided that provision was made in the instruction * for the theological differences in Presbyterianism and Methodism. He looked forward to the day when theology would be rightly regarded as a legitimate science in the universities.