New Church at Clifden.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 452, 13 January 1914, Page 4

New Church at Clifden.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE. Thursday was an important day among Presbyterians of the Far West, for on that date the first church aoross the wide sw*U- ■, ing Waiau had its foundation stove 1«H : The residents of this distriot will now hWfe a place of worship, which will occupy the unique position of being the farthest outpost of Christian worship m the west of Wallace. About 200 residents from every part of the , district assembled on the eventful occasion, and as the day was line and the sun shining, the gathering will long remain as a pleasant memory to those taking part m it. Rev. J. E. Lopdell, {Orepuki, Moderator of the charge, presided, und proceedings commenced by the whole assemblage singing the 100 th. Psalm, after whioh Rev. C. A. Gray, M.A., Riverton, read selected passages of Scripture. Prayer was offered by tho Moderator, and a history oi" the building was given by Mr R. McEwan, Home Missionary, who apologised for tho absence of Mr A. R. Dawson, arohitcot, on whose behalf he. presented Rev. A. Macdonald, M.A., with a neat mallet having an inlaid silver inscription, and called upon Mr Macdonald to lay the foundation stone. Mr Macdonald, after declaring the stove well and truly' laid, offered up a short prayer, and then delivered the following address : — HISTORY. There were ministers before me who preached on the other side of the Waiau, but I was the Hrst to cross over aud preach on this side. The first service was conducted m Ciifden Homestead House, when | Mr and Mrs Robert Tapper were the occupants, on Sunday, October 7th, 1894, more than 19 years ago. I had to leave my horse on the other side, as not every horse cared to swim the swift Waiau, and I had to be token across mr a small boat, which, on account of the swiftness of the riyer, had to bo rowed up the calm edge, so"ai_tio permit of her, when m the current, crossing at a right angle. The services for a wear or two continued to be held m the Clffden Homestead House, and when the school was built, tho services wore held m it. And now, after fully 19 years, you have begun to build a church. With a fine new church, and a splendid suspension bridge over the Waiau river, there^ should be no difficulty now about church attendance I wish, therefore, to congratulate you people and Mr McEwan, your Home Missionary, on this auspicious occasion, and I tender you my heartfelt thanks for asking me, as the first to preach m Ciifden, to lay the foundation stone of the first church to be erected on this side qf the great Waiau river. GOD FIRST.It is important to put God first. lb does not do to leave Him out or to give Him the second place. How often we are told to give Him the .first place ! The first and great commandment is: "Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, with, all thy strength, and with all thy mind. Christ taught us m the Lord's prayer to say: "Our Father which art m: Heaven." By these words we give G»d the first place. Christ, on another occasion, says: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God." It is quite clear, therefore, from the Old and New Testaments that we are to honour God with the first place, and he promises: " Them that honour Me I will honour." I was once talking to a farmer, and he said : " All has to be paid for from what comes out of the land." I agreed, but noted that the land was from God, so that all came from God, and we ought to honour Him first. You people here are striving to honour God as he sndttld be by erecting this church. PUBLIC/ WORSHIP. <f( How full the ijiblo is of injunctions to meet m public Worship. Let me qutete from the Psalms : — " I joy'd when to the House of God, Go up, they said to me ; Jerusalem within Thy gates Our feet shall standing be." " O send Thy light forth and Thy truth, Let them be guides to me ; And bring me to Thy Holy Hill, ijEven where Thy dwellings be." Our Saviour kept up the habit of attending public worship, for we read : "As was His custom, He went into the synagogue ou the Sabbath Day." You would have thought if anyone did not need to attend church, it was Christ, for He was perfectly holy. He lived as m the continual presence of God. Nevertheless, perfect as He was, He kept up the custom of attending publio worship. And take the case of Anna, the prophetess : " She departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." Of the early Christians we read : " They continued daily with one accord m the temple." It is a good custom to attend church. There is a blessing attached to it : " Rlessed are they that dwell m Thy courts. It is interesting to read Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith":— Week m, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his bellows blow ; You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, • Like a sexton ringing the village bell When the evening sun is low. He goes on Sunday to the churoh, And sits among his boys, He hears the parson pray and preaoh, _. He hears his daughter's voice Singing in'the village choir, And it makes his heart rejoice. . safety. V There was once a vessel wrecked ou omg. of the South Sea Islands. This island dhT supposed to ibe inhabited by cannibals. One of the sailors climbed a hUI top to 3eo what could be seen. Presently, his shipmates saw him swinging his handslin great excitement, and inquired what was the matter. He had just seen m the distance the steeple ©f a church. That allayed their fears. They knew Ithe ehuroh spire made them safe on that cannibal island. , Years ago, a young infidel was travelling m the west of Canada with his uncle, a banker, and they were not a little anxious for their safety when they Were forced to stop tor a night m a rough wayside cabin. There were two rooms m the house, and when they retired for the night, they agreed that the young man should sit with his pistoUi, and watch till midnight, and then awaken his uncle, who should watch till morning. Presently they peeped through a oraok aud saw their host, a rough-looking old man m his bear-skin suit, reaoh up and take down a book— a Bible— and after reading awhile, he knelt to pray, and then the young infidel began to pull off his coat and get ready for bed. The uncle snid : " I thought you were going to sit up and watch." But the |young man knew there was no need for sitting up, pistol m hand, to watch all night long m a cabin that was hallowed by the word of God, and oonsecrated by phe voice of prayer. These two examples show that religion means safety. FORGEITING GOD. Many have settled so far back m JhtLtt back-blocks that they have forgotten aboirf^ the Sabbath Day, the House of God and the Bible. There is a story told of an old man, who heard the ohurch bell m the bush. He, when young, had been taken m _ his mother's hand tb the parish church m ™ the middle of the grave-yard, and taught to worship God. But for years he had given religion up. The sound of the ohurch bell m the bush awakened him. "And he followed the sound, for he thought, of home And the motherly hand so fair That led him along through the church* yard mounds, ? And made him kneel'down m prayer."

INSIDE VERSUS OUTSIDE THE CHURCHES. We hear there are good men outside the churches. It would bo interesting to get a list of then% so that we might compare it with the list of good men inside the churches. Some challenges are never accepted. Nobody has answered W. J. .Bryan's challenge to athiests and materialists to produce a better book . than the Bible. Another challenge we know has not been accepted — to produce a better list of good people outside the church than are inside the church: ' EARTHLY VERSUS HEAVENLY WORSHIP. The very act of worship exalts our nature ; it brings us nigh to God, the source of all blessedness, and thereby raises m us sentiments like- what exist m Himself. There is nothing on earth that so elevates us and makes us Heavenlyminded as engaging m worship of God. Worship trains our souls for Heaven. In Heaven they worship Him night and day, and if we worship Him on earth, we are preparing ourselves for Heaven. The angels, archangels, and the spirits of just men made perfect find no nobler occupation m the Heavenly world than m worshipping God. Here is what they do m Heaven : " The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, . and cast, their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for Thou hast created all (things, and for Thy pleasure they are aud N were created." "And every creature that is m Heaven, and on the earth, and under tlie earth, and such as are m the sea, and all that are m them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, aud glory, and power be unto , Him that sitteth upon the throne, and uu[to the Lamb for ever and ever." If, then, the chief occupation of Heaven is to worship God, we prepare ourselves for Heaven by worshipping God on earth. The Jew, ; when he entered the temple, looked for the ' presence of God. "0 Thou that dwellest . between the cherubims, shine forth !"' Worship consists m feeling the nearness of God. May you, whan you come to this s church, feel the presence of God m your midst! "This is none other than the House of God, and the gate of Following the address, hymn 198, *' Glorious things of thee are spoken," was sung, and a collection taken up, the response being a liberal pne. Mr J. C. Thomson, M.P. gave an interesting address, congratulating the people on the progress of the district, and their action m having erected a place of worship. Other speakers were Mr Richard Morgan, student and formerly Home Missionary at Ciifden ; Mr John Johnston, Home Missionary, Orawia *, and Rev. C. A.- Gray, Riverton, proceedings concluding with the singing of Psalm 122 'and the Benediction. ' Among the audience were : Mrs Gardner, formerly of Birchwood, and one of the pioneer mothers of the Waiau ; Mrs Grigor, senr. (widow of Dr Grigor, a former proprietor of Ciifden ; Mr and Mrs J. Carnegie Gardner, Ciifden ; Mrs Wm. Grigor, Lilburn ; Mr and Mrs Cochrane, Lilburn ; Mr Robert Tapper, for many years the occupier of Ciifden ; Mrs, Robert Whyte, the wife af the only remaining settler of the first batch of Ciifden settlers ; Mr and Mrs •John McCall, so well-known m Eastern *Bush. Besides these, there were people ■J from Papatotara, Tuatapere, Orawia, and ,all round the district. Altogether, there *. was a large gathering. The ceremony was m the afternoon, and at the conclusion, tea _ was served by the ladies. ' The new church, which is being erected near the junction of the Ciifden, Papatotara and Lillburn Valley road, is a substantial ;:and neat building of wood on limestone 'piles, and is being erected |by Mr Karlsen, ?builder, Papatotaro, and will be ready for occupation before the winter. While not . an imposing edifice, it will beoome an historical building as the first church across the'Waiau.