PASTOR BIRCH AND HIS CONGREGATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8361, 15 September 1890, Page 3

PASTOR BIRCH AND HIS CONGREGATION.

At the morning service at the Baptist Tabernacle the Rev. Mr. Birch said he wished to make a personal explanation. Six or seven months before he left England he wished General Booth to take up his (Mr. Birch's) large evangelistic service in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and it was so arranged. Six months before he left Manchester he bade farewell to the congregation. There was no one here in Auckland to speak these things, and he spoke them in fair play to himself. General Booth had arranged to go on the following Sunday, and continue his (Mr. Birch's) work there; but during the week the directors of the hall stated that they declined to allow the splendid building—one of the most beautiful in the world—to be given up to the Salvation Army, believing that it would bring the building into some discredit with Sir Charles Hallo's people, who attended there at the Thursday concerts. Accordingly ho telegraphed to General Booth, and the next Sunday was at the service again, and there read a letter which stated that the General felt strongly that he (Mr. Birch) should go on with the work. That same day he read another letter from Mr. C. H. Spurgeon, who said, " I cannot understand it. Surely Manchester will not allow the Free Trade Hall to be without you. It seems to mo that the _ calamity need only be known for Christian men to prevent it." He (Mr. Birch) had been there for sixteen years, every Lord's Day, often going from London in the middle of the night, preaching there, and going back on the following night; but he had become weary and jaded, and three months after he had asked General Booth to take his place he decided that he must really bring the matter to an end, because the strain was too great upon his church. They had paid £15,000 to carry on the work at that great hall; it was a big sum to raise, and nothing to show for it; they had spent it all in expenses, and not a brick to be seen, so they determined that unless some other way opened, they would give lip that work and stick to their own church work. Accordingly, the notice which a writer had put in the Herald on Saturday from the Christian Herald was his (Mr. Birch's) own writing. He had written it to see whether the support which he needed might come. He arranged with brethren of the VVesleyan Methodists to carry on the work— that was three months before he left— the last sermon he preached there was on the Sunday before he left Lancashire for New Zealand. He thought if the proprietors of the Herald were men who were filled with the Holy Ghost, they ought to see that an apology was made. He appealed to the Congregation if they did not think so? [There were some slight murmurs of approval.] He looked for freedom : he did not ask any unfair advantage ; he asked that he might have fair play. He was sorry that at the meeting on Monday night the communicants and holders would not have a voice. However, he left himself in the hands of the enrolled members of the church, to do what they thought right for the glory of God, and not only for their own benefit, but for the benefit of the larger body of people who were not on the roll. The number of members on the roll who served in the church was not very large ; bat the majority of those who attended at the Tabernacle — seat-holders, communicants, and regular members of the congregation— although they had no right to say what ought.to be done, were, he knew from what had been said to him during the last few days, all sorry for the injudicious step he had taken on Sunday night, and their hearty sympathy, he knew, was with him, whatever might happen. He felt that he had the sympathy of some who had been converted there, and brought to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which he had preached, and in which he believed. If he were an obstacle ; if Auckland could not do with a minister who loved all men, who did not respect the rich man who sat below more than he respected the poor man who sat afar off in a corner of the gallery : if Auckland could not do with a man like that, who occasionally m.ght be injudicious, he would leave himself in the hands of the enrolled members of the Church. To those who, whilst not agreeing, some of them,with what had been done, had cheered him during the past few days, he would read a paragraph in a letter he had received. It was not marked "private," and he thought that under the circumstances Mr. Spurgeon would be glad if he read it. Three months after his arrival in this colony he had received that letter from Mr. Spurgeon in London. Mr. Birch read the paragraph ho mentioned as follows " Your work goes on well with your successors, and this must give you great delight, for it shows that you were not wrong in taking your rest, since your work is sound enough to bear the stern test of absence." Continuing,, Pastor Birch said he thought that everything that had been said about that matter should very well be withdrawn. He bore no animosity. The paragraph in the Hkrald had been written under a misapprehension ; they (the writers) were not acquainted with the facts. So long as it had been written under a misapprehension, lie did not think anything about it; but, at the same time, lie asked for fair play, and that they should give everyone his due. Mr. Birch repeated this explanation in the evening. He said he wished to tell them how grieved he was to hear that one of the officers of that church had been going about for two or three months, showing up and down in Auckland the memorandum copied in the Christian Herald, which seemed to speak disparagingly of him, and this at length had got into the hands of a writer on the Auckland Hkrald, and it seemed to him that writer, with the evident wish of doing him harm and bringing a strong lever upon the members of that church to pitch him (Mr. Birch) out, had copied this into the paper, and many dear friends had been greatly grieved, because they thought, Has our worthy minister deceived us ? For himself personally he did not care, but he did care that the dear brothers and sisters of that congregation should hear what was right. Mr. Birch went on to say that as a general rule the Free Trade Hall was too small for the congregations who came. Notwithstanding that many of the people who came were very poor, they had raised the large sum of £15,000 to pay for the rent and expenses of that great building; but at length he and they grew tired of pitching money into the pockets of the directors of that hall, for during their stay there the dividend was 7 or 8 per cent., whilst before they went there it was only lor 2 per. cent. Accordingly three months' after the directors declined to all' .v General Booth to take . the. services, he decided that he would go on no longer, and the notice was put into the Christian Herald. The paragraph from the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon's letter, quoted by him in the morning, was again read by Mr. Birch, who said he hoped this was satisfactory. In reply, there was a round of applause from the congregation. Mr. Birch, continuing, said he admitted with infinite sorrow the injudicious step of the previous Sunday night; no one could be more sorry than he at the way things had gone. He was. very sorry, and he had expressed that regret to the Church officers ; but, unfortunately, one or two who were pretty well to do, said that, unless lie resigned, they would, probably, leave the Church. That hardly seemed a proper spirit. If it was the right thing for him to leave that Church and that large congregation, he was willing to do so ; but he questioned whether any other man coming to that, what he called not a Tabernacle Church—for that J was the Tabernacle Gospel Hallhe questioned whether any other man would make more peace than he had been able to make. He had visited a dying woman that afternoon, and she said she had been a member at Wellesley-street, and that those were nice times. He asked, " Well, I suppose you had always peace then?" But she replied that nearly every time her husband came home from the meetings, he said there had been some trouble. [At this stage a, man rose in the congregation, and putting on his hat, walked down a side aisle and loft the church, closing the door with a good deal of unnecessary violence. The incident, which caused some stir amongst' the people, was in very bad taste.] Pastor Birch .went on to say that he was in the hands of the brethren of the Church. If he had been an obstacle he was very sorry, but he had done his best. If, however, the brethren thought on Monday night at their meeting, " Well, under the circumstances, we think our worthy pastor should have a rest, and leave us," he would say " Right!"