CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 250, 30 October 1884, Page 2

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

11 A public tea and inee'.ing to welcome the " Rhv 11. J. Lewis, the recently appointed pastor of the Congregational Church, was 0 held yesterday evening, there being a large v attendance. e The chair was taken by Mr Newman who y read n latter from the Itov F. Inncs Jones regretting his unavoidable absence. Letters wero also read from tho Congregational L ' Churches at lirigg, in Lincolnshire, and 8 Wesley Flacc, Greab Horfcon, Bradford, at ® both of which he had ministered for f-ome ■*■ year.-?, bearing 1 testimony to his excellence as "' a preacher and pastor. The chairman said y that post might have been more ably filled, r but none had a higher appreciation of Mr ° Lewis than himself. Mr Smart also spoke iu high terms of Mr Lewis, and said that he hoped they were all s going to be workers together and aid thair 0 pastor to the besb of their power by their ' love, sympathy, and prayers. v ' The Rev J. H. Lewis, the Pastor, was rcceiveel with hearty applause. He said a man ; might, on such an occasion, be excused if he 3 talked a little about himself. It was thirteen f years since he entered on the work of the 1 ministry. From 1 his boyhood he had felt an * intense desire to consecrate his life to this L< work. Ilia first sermon was delivered in a

cottage in a sea-side •village in Yorkshire to a congregation of nine persons. After twelve years ministerial labor in the Old Country, he heard the Bey E. Walker, who was present on the platform, urge the claims of the colonies in general and of New Zealand in particular upon the Yorkshire Congregational Union. Mr Walker's appeal seemed to come to Mr Lewis's mind as a call from God saying "Go over to New Zealand." In obedience to that call, he came out and shortly after landing here received an invitation to the pastorage of this church which came about in such a natural and spontaneous manner aa to appear a clear intimation of the sphere of duty to which he was directed. With reference to the work he had come amongst them to do, he considered that the Christian Church had three great functions to discharge : The preservation of the truth, the building up of character, and the winning of the world ; and that the minister's work was to stimulate the Church to the efficient discharge of each of those functions. And so, the first part of his duty was to stimulate, to inspire as far as possible all the members of the church with an intense, passionate loyalty to truth, and a firm determination to do all in their yower to preserve it. But every man in his search after truth was liable to be influenced either by a bias in favor of what was old, or by a bias in favor of what was new. Either of these biasses was sure to divert a man's mind from the straight path of truth unless he watched against it, made allowances for it, and counteracted it. He whose bias was in favor of the old was specially in danger of confounding tradition with truth. It was therefore an essential part of a minister's duty to try to lead his people beyond tradition to truth. And if he (Mf Lewis.) in his attempt to discharge that duty Card sometimes seemed to tear the curtain r ofs6tue theological tradition they bad befen accustomed to venerate, his sole object in doing: so was to show them the truth which that curtaia had concealed. llyielded to no man in love of tbe truth and jealousy for its honor, Me had never in Ins life uttered aDy theological opinion hastily. He hart spent 15 years in studying the Scriptures in the original languages, as well as in the light thr>>wn on them by church history. He therefore claimed the right to preach with the assurance which can only come from mature conviction. If thnt conriction led him to discard some of the forms in which the theology of the past had tried to present the truth, it had not led him to abandon an atom of th)se fundamental truth which are the core an 1 marrow of thp gospel. His belief in the personality of God, divinity of Jesus Christ, in the effcacy of His atonemert, in tbe necessity of conversion, and of the Holy Spirii's agency tS renew the heart, was as firm, as cordia , as enthusiastic, as that of nny Primitive J^ethodisfc or any member of the Salvation Army. Tbe next part of the Christian minister's work was constructive. It was his duty to build up a high standard of Christian character in all the members of his flock. And if in the discharge of tbis portion of his duty he sometimes uttered a severe reproof, let them bear in mind that his ou'y object in doing so was to save them from allowing unrebuked sina to tarnish the beauty or corrode the strength of their Christian character. Then, too, the minister's work should be aggressive. He wanted to inspire, them with the resolve "New Zealand for Christ," not for Congregationalism, or Methodism, or Epiacopaiianism, but for Christ. He wanted, to inspire them to do all in their power to mak« the new nation growing up in this colony a strong, pure, g^dly nation, a nation preserved from the infidelity, the intemperance, and the immorality which bad been the ruin of other nations. If he was to do this work he would need their Bapporr, Let them hold up their hands by their sympathy, their prayers, their cooperation, and when their connection as Pastor and people came to a close, he trusted tfcey would be able to siy " We have not run in vain, neither labored in vain." The Bev Edward Walker, who has recently returned from a visit to England, referred to the great pleasure he felt in meeting on the plat-form not only two friends who had shown him kindness when last in the colony, viz., the JRevs. Lorenzo Moore, and T. A. Caio, but especially in being able to congsatulate MiLewis on his settlement in Nelson after having been the means, to a great extent, of his leaving the Old Country. He referred in an earnest manner to the spiritul needs of the colony, and hoped this Church would set a noble example of work for Christ. Whilst referring to /spiritual matters, it had been his mission more recently to deal with material things, such acquiring sites for places of worship, and to raise a fund for helping those encumbered with debt, and wHUe he could not pledge him#elf to furthering in this way the cause here, yet he had little doubt that jf our claims were duly laid before the Congregational Union at Auckland, in February next, a grant might be voted either to help in paying for a site, or in some way to extend the usef ullnesa of the present building. . In the course of the evening Miss Burns the organist, was presented with a purse containing a handsome 6um of money in recognition of the valuable services tendered by her, and the proceedings were rendered very pleasant byjthe singing of the choir to her accompaniment. Totes of thanks to the ladies and all who had visited were carried by acclamation on the motion of Mr Worley, seconded by Mr Smart.