WESLEYAN HOME MISSION FUND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7790, 9 November 1886, Page 3

WESLEYAN HOME MISSION FUND.

The annual demonstration of the Wesleyan Home Mission.was held in the Pitt-street Church last night. There was not a very large attendance. Mr. Thomas Buddie presided, and there were also on the platform, in addition to the speakers, the Rev, H. Ball, president of the Auckland district, and Mr, T. MoMaster. After the usual devotional exercises and the singing of a hymn, the chairman opened the meeting by calling upon the secretary, Mr. G. A. Buttle, to read the annual report of the circuit committee, from which we learn that the amount raised last year by the Pitt'Street circuit for the Home Mission and Church Extension Fund exceeded that of any previous year by £60- The total amount raised in the colony was £2560 12s 0.1, but notwithstanding. the liberality of the friendc the demands made upon the fund were so large that the expenditure exceeded the income, and many who were deserving of assistance, and really needed it, had to be denied. Pitt-street oirouit had contributed £314 12s 10d to the above fund. The committee wan grateful to the ladies, who rendered most valuable help by undertaking to canvass the several districts into which the city and suburbs are divided. The amount raised by the schools, although not quite equal to the previous year, was yet a large sum. The committee urged the adoption of the " Blake" system of collecting, than which the committee believed there was no more useful plan. Thanks were retained to other denominations for their contributions. The committee urged the following specific objeots, all of which received a measure of support:—(l) The Maori mission; (2) help to the Scandinavian churches; (3) home mission stations in sparsely populated districts ; (4) assistance by grants to young and feeble circuits; (5) parsonage and furniture grants ; (6) grants towards the maintenance of students at the Theological College. The .report referred to the request made on the fund by the annual conference, and notwithstanding efforts made to reduoe the assessments ; and, on behalf of the Pitt-street circuit, Mr. F. L. Prime, the local treasurer, promised- the sum of £280. The report oonoluded by reference to the lecture delivered upon Maoaulay by the Rev. if. R. Dewsbury in aid of the fund, and also a leoture promised by the Rev. 0. H. Garland. Mr. F. L. Prime, Treasurer, read the financial statement, showing the various amounts and contributions raised by servioes, ladies, Sunday-sohools, and others in aid of the fund, and stated that the extra amonnt he had guaranteed liad been reached within £20. The totals were as follow : — Ladiei, £100 103 2d ; mission boxes and the Blake system, £64 2s 5d ; donations by Mr. J. Probert for natire work, £50 ; public collections, £40 Iβ 7d : total, £259 15s 2d. The Chairman in his opening remarks said he should not inflict a lengthy address upon them as there were several important addresses to follow. He was sure that the object of the cause was one that appealed to the hearts and feelings of all those present that night; and the objeots of the association were very ably put before thereby the report read by the secretary. The Rev. E. Best delivered a very interesting addreis upon " Now and Then (1886 and 1760) ; or the Story of the Mission Work of Barbara Hick and Philip Embury and its Results." He went on to say that the first miasion was opened in Limerick, where the first address converted from the Church of Kooio Thomas Welsh, who became the favourite preacher of John Wesley. He said they never fired blank cartridge, but always aimed at immediate results. The rev. gentleman went on to refer to the establishment of German settlements in the neighbourhood of Limerick, where the Government settled them on land at 5s per acre, and for the first 20 years paid the rent; but these Lutheran settlements soon languished by inter-marriage and gradually lapsed in the Roman Catholic Church, and also to a state of even barbaric heathenism. However, the mission of Philip Embury worked a ohange, and several hundreds were gained by his efforts among them. Mr. Best eulogised the determination of many of bis countrymen in refusing to grovel in serfdom, and left their native land and settled down where they could enjoy their religious principles. He referred to the establishment of Methodism in America by Philip Embury, who preached the first sermon in New York from his carpenter's bench, in rerponse to the call of Barbara Hick. That congregation of eight persons had in 100 years swelled to 4,034,350 churoh members, with 3,360,000 Sondayechool scholar*. Mr. Best drew forth applause by referring to the statement made by the Freetheught papers that churches were being done to death, and that they were about to have joy. A olergyman in the far West sent a telegram to a large meeting in New York, Colonel Ingersoll in the chair, "We are building three churches a day. Hallelujah !" He oonoluded by a powerful peroration, dwelling upon the part Ireland had played in Methodietic work.j The Rev. W. Gittos, of the Kaipara, delivered an address upon " Notes of Obser vatione during the year among the Hauhaus, the Maori Mormons, To Whiti and his people, and the Christian Natives." He referred in very encouraging terms to his work among the Maoris in the Maketn and other districts, and spoke of the good work accomplished by Hauraki Paul in the Waikato. He very graphically related inoidents by recent travels among the. Waikato Mormons and their teachers, and caused much amusement by the native idea of a Mormon, which their teacher compared to a sinking oanoe, out of which the bottom had fallen. He stated that in his interview with Tβ Whiti at Taranaki be bad endeavoured to defend his church government and other matters ; but he must state that, after a careful study of the character of the man, he had found him most offensive in his manner, and he was very cunning, and a great schemer. Tβ Whiti was more foul in bis language than any Maori in New Zealand that he had heard. The natives at Parihaka he found very learned in the Old Testament. Tβ Whiti being in gaol, the idea among the Maoris on the West Coast was that he was their Saviour, as he was to be three months in gaol, and Jesus Christ had been in the grave for three days. Mr. Gittos concluded by stating that a missionary was urgently needed on. the West Coast, and he was quite willing to undertake the work if nobody else was forthcoming, The Rev. J. S, Rishworth was to have delivered an address upon " Home Mission Enterprise in Relation to the Religious Future of the Colony," but, owing to the lateness of the hour, postponed it to eorne future occasion. A collection was taken up in aid of the fund amounting to £6 5s Bd. Daring the evening a number of selections were rendered by the choir, and Mr. Lambert, the organist, played a solo- The meeting concluded with the pronouncing of the benediction by the Rev. J. S. Rishworth.