PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19626, 3 May 1927, Page 10

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

WORK IN ZEALAND. EIGHTY YEARS OF PROGRESS. FACTOR IN NATIONAL LIFE. UNITED CELEBRATION SERVICE. The Presbyter" lll Churches of Auckland were stroogljl| re P resente< * a celebration service Town Hall last evening in connection with the 84th anniversary of the founding of the church in Auckland and the 80th anniversary of the mother church, St. Andrew's. The service opened with the singing of the 100 th psaliOj followed at intervals by other hymns. The united choir sang the "Te Deum" ant * anthem, "What are These ?" "At Even ere the Sun was Set" was given by the St. Andrew's quartette. j/r The Rev. James Aitken, Moderator-elect of the General Assembly, who presided, referred ,to the object of the rally and read messages of congratulation from other churches. In an address on the religious message of Presbyterianism he said that the church had always stood for freedom of expression and liberty of thought. The Rev. D. C. Herron, speaking of the contribution of Presbyterianism to the life of the Dominion, referred to the strength of the work and great service that the church was doing in New Zealand. In Auckland Presbyterian church building had been shamefully poor and had lacked the psychological effect of appearance. However, this was being attended to. In other centres where there were massive structures the community realised the greatness of the church. Unfortunately, the ministers, in coping with the problem of attending to the increasing population, had lost to some extent their esprit-de-corps. Great Strength of the Church. While recognising and appreciating to the full what other churches had done for the Dominion Mr. Herron said he considered that no church was giving greater service spiritually, morally and intellectually. Although the Church was ranked as second -statistically, in some respects it was the leading one. According to 1921 figures, the Presbyterian Churches had more seating accommodation than the Anglican Church, had more Sunday School teachers, more scholars and more bible classes. It was 87 years since the first service had been held in a house in Wellington, said Mr. Herron, and 84 years since it was -founded in Auckland. The Scottish colony in Dqnedin established the Church nearly 80 years ago. |Tho present New Zealand Presbyterian population was 340,000, or one-quarter of the total population and 183.200 had some kind of connection with the Church. Last year the Church raised £278,500 and for the past 25 years had collected the magnificent sum of £4,134,000. It was estimated that the private wealth of Presbyterians in the Dominion was £200,000,000. Contributions to the Work. "The biggest contribution that the church is making .to the life of the community," continued Mr. Herron, "cannot be tabulated. There are such things as its help to social uplifting and to business integrity." Gcd had given a wonderful ministry to the Church. Great men had founded the Church in the land. In this connection, ho instanced the case of David Bruce, who, in the early days had set on a sound footing the Churches of St. Andrew's, St. James' and St. David's. Other men had carried on his work in the country districts. There was also the greatness of the laymen in the Church, remarked the speaker. A sense of civic and national responsibility was deeply imbued in Presbyterianism. In Dunedin there had been men who might have amassed fortunes but who used their wealth to help in laying the foundations of the Church. The speaker referred to the late Mr. Massey and to the Governor-General as examples of the men of sterling worth who were to be found in the Church. The Church had always displayed a courage in its fight for great principles, said Mr. Herron. But for the Presbyterian Church there would have been a State church founded in New Zealand. The church had fought against the liquor traffic and had combated the drift back to the militaristic ideal. Another great contribution was that which the Church had made in connection with education. Social Message to the Age. Speaking of the Church's social message to the age, the Rev. J. Lamb Harvey emphasised the point that Christ had a social purpose when He set out to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. He was glad that the policy ■of the Imperial Government to China was one of friendship and goodwill in making the necessarv adjustments. It was to be hoped that the Government would abide bv this policy and not be ruled by the militarists or the commercialists. New Zealand was expecting legislation dealing with the liquor traffic to come before the next session of Parliament. If it tended toward temperance reform the Church would welcome it, but if it did not it would oppose it with all the force that it could command. "The Genius of Presbyterianism" was dealt with by the Rev. J. W. Shaw. He said that the Church had stood for the spirit of liberty ever since the Reformation. I 1 bad been a mighty influence toward freedom. - Wherever there was a complete monarchy the Presbyterian Church had either become a martyr church or had gone out of existence. The spirit of liberty had insisted on a move toward tolerance, and the spirit of tolerance was growing. It had been an early doctrine to lay stress on the intellectual side of religion, continued Mr. Shaw. The Church had built up a strongly educated people. "The name of 'Catholic,' " he continued, "is deserved by this Church because of its universality of aopeai. There are only two churches •which are really Catholic—the first is the Roman, which has the greater appeal. and the second is the Presbyterian." He urged the people not to depart from the ideals of the Chuir-ch which would be found jusi as neudful in years to come.