ONEHUNGA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ANNIVERSARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 645, 6 December 1865, Page 5

ONEHUNGA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ANNIVERSARY.

The annual ten mooting in commemoration of the opening of tho above church, took place last evening at Onehunga. The meeting was numerously attended, and punctually ot half pa-t 5 o'clock, about 150 persons siit down to tea, including several friends from Auckland and Otahuliu. After tho ton, tho Kev. G. Bnowx, the rospeete.l pastor of tho church, presided over tho meeting, and in introducing the business of the same lvmaiked that aa there were many speakors present, he ought ought to Bay but litile- He might state however that they had doubled tho number of the mouibers of their Church during Hie past six months. There was a fear that when outward piospe:ity was manifest of being satisfied, but it should be a sottlcd aim with each one ofthrm tlmt thet-o was a duty to perform, and they should do their utmost to perform it. Tho Chairman then spoko of Christian edification and pointed out what he considered to be the beet means of promoting it. Anthem by the Choir—" Lord for thy tander mercies Miko. 1 ' The Hov. Sir. Mackt said it afforded him great . pleasure in being present on that occasion, and to tender to them his congratulations for tho great success which their church had recently experienced. Whon thoy had only a small cause iu Oneliuuga, ho i had taken upon himself to prophecy that their efforts . would be crowned with success; and what ho had i prophesied had turned out to bo true. Mr. jtfacky [ then spoko of the importance of Christian edification, . and thought that in aiming to edify each other they might imitate their Wesleyan brethren with advantage. They should eeek to exhoit one another more than th'.y were in tho habit of doing. This was ft. duty explicitly stated in tho New Testament—" Exhort ono another daily while it is called to-day;" f and it was as explicitly defined iu the CM. Testament t —" They that feared "tho Lord talked of him one with another." With referonco to the subject of Psalmody—a subject on whieh tho Qmh- ' man had requested him to speak—he thought 3 their chief aim should bo to promoto con- » gregational psalmody, and expressed his belief r that public choirii generally tended to retard or prevent congregations from tiding a part in singing \ God's praises. 1 Anthem—"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness. ' llr. Thomas MacfabcaNe next addressed the 3 meeting, briefly concluding by giving a very amusing 3 Scotch recitution, 3 Tiio Kev. Mr. Sinclair then gavo nn excellent • speech on Education, ondeavounng to show tlmt no system of education was comuleto which did not iucludo moral andjreligioiw training. Antlifm. —" Hear my prayer, O Lord." Tho Revds. Messrs Hall, Nosuie, and Laisuley, ' the latter expressing hia increasing regard for the J postoi- of their Church, and pointing out what ho thought should be tho distinctive difference between ' the Church and the world. t Two or three other antiioms wcro also sung by tho t choir, which wan ably conducted by Mr. AVt-st-moreland. f The pi-ocoodingß were conclude] by tie ChiiniKin pronocißoiag the tmarcliction-