THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN. THE REV. W. WILL

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 61

THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

THE REV. W. WILL

The Southland Times reports that St. John's Church has benefited by a gift of £100, the amount being donated anonymously. At a. meeting of the Mataura Presbytery, it was resolved to grant the petition of the Goro congregation for moderation in a call to the Rev. Mr Scott-Allan, of Sydenham. Up'to the beginning of February do less than £500,873 had been contributed \o the Twentieth Century Million Pound Fund, which Mr Perks, M..P., and others havv been actively promoting in England among tl\Westleyan Methodiat denomina,tion.

During the past six years the panuy donations received in boxes placed at the enhances of two of the Catholic Churches here have exceeded £1000. The money is dei oted towards maintaining Catholic schools in Wellington. Tho many friends of the 'Rev, Dr P.obin*on, of the St. Kilda. "We3t Presbyterian Church, will regrel to hear that he is sr.-i-ously indisposed. Dr Robinson (says the Argue) recently went on a trout-fishing Lour to New Zealand, thinking- that he wee oaly " run down " and needed ft brief respite froru vrorlz, but the trip did not produce the good results anticipated.

A farewell social was tendered to the Roy. J. J. Lewis, after a term of five years work in connection with the Trinity Wesleyan Cl urch, in the schoolroom, Moray place",' on tha stb , Mr Lewis being about to take up the work of the church in the Mornington circuit. Tho social, which was largely attended, was tendered by members of the congregation, and an extremely pleasant evening v/as spent.

A remarkable sermon was preached at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, by the Rev. Allan Whitworth, vicar of All Saints'. Margaret street, on gambling. While condemning as immoral betting founded on private information, and little better than blasphemous betting on one's luck — which, if it meant anything, was another word for Divine Providence — ho said that he could not with one bishop condemn betting wholly as a sin when founded on scientific or technical knowledge It stood logically in tho same category a3 purchasing a commodity with the hope of its rising in value, entering into an athletic competition, or insuring one's house against fire. Mr Allan Whitworth has the courage of his convictions, but many will think it a singular Lenten counsel in the cathedral of the metropolis.

A resolution was passed at tho Methodist Central Mission quarterly board conveying a hearty vote of thanks to the Rev. W. Ready for past services rendered in connection witli the mission, it being the nve of his deparliuo from the city for Auckland after a buccef?->-ful term of nine years' evangelistic work, productive of much spiritual blessing. Expression was also given to the esteem in which Mr Ready was held as a pastor by his people, and to the hope that the blessing of Omnipotence would rest on him, his' wife, and family in their new sphere of labour. There being a credit balance on" hand of £76 4« lOd, after all liabilities had beon dealt with, a sum of £40 was voted to the rev. gentleman, also » sum, of £31 to the.trust account. Mr Ready cordially thanked the board, and said it was with feelings of regret tbat he wished them good-bye, and expressed the hope that his successor would carry on the good work already begun, and have their trearty support and co-operation.

At the service held in the North Duuedin Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning, the Roy. I. K. M 'ln tyre, tho minister of the church, took for his subject the 122 nd Psalm, " I was glad when they said unto Me, let us go into the house of the Lord," etc. After referring tc tho spiritual meaning of tho Psalm, he made reference to its temporal application, and askod: "' Wheio is our house of God?" Undei the present circumstances, they were not able to carry on the work of the Sabbath school efficiently, and other work m connection with the church was hampered by \V(ant of room. It required but £50 to make up tho £500 which the congregation hafl undertaken to collect in orcW to build a new church. If 50 moinberd would agree to subscribe the sum of £1 each, he saw no reason why a new church should not be started very soon. Mr M'lntyre then made the following appeal to the congregation present-;. — " We. tho undersigned', undertake and pledge ourselves to collect from friends and acquaintances, or failing this, to subscribe on oui own account, and pay into the treasurer of the building fund before the Ist day of November next each tho snm of 20 shillings." This wnp signed at tKe morning and evening aemoes by considerably more than the number of subscribers aimed at. The Zenana Bibla and Medical Mi?? : on, or Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society, are sending a deputation to New Zpalarri consistinsr of tho Rev. A. R. Cav»lior, Mr:> CAvalier, and Miss Aitken. The deputation hopes fihortly to reach Dunedin and commuiee operations. The mission in undenominational, and works in co-operation with the Church Missionary- and other Protestant ?jisiinuary societies in India. It has stations or

Bible women, at 30 centres, and employs 127 I European missionaries and assistants, and 191 native Christian teachers, nurses, etc., and 78 Bible women. In addition, the mission has 72 schools, and also lms hospitals and dispensaries at Luekno-x, Benares, and Patua. The work of tho mission has grown rapidly of late years, and the many open doors and urgent calls have caused the mission to be anxious to secure more Christian ladiess to take part in the work, and so extend its usefulness. The mission's headquarters are in London, and Lord Kinnaird is its treasurer. The deputation (who are returned missionaries) are placing the needs of the Hindu widows of India before the public, and hitherto have met with much sympathy and success). Public and drawing room meetings are being arranged for by Messrs Lawrence Cook and John Wilkinson, both of this city, to whom invitations for missionary addresses by the deputation should be addressed.-

After five and forty years of faithful labo\ir in tho charge of East Tr.ieri the Rev. William Will has earned the rest which, in the evening of his life, he has sought by placing his resig" nation in the hands of the Dunedin Presbytery. Few are the ministers of religion to whom it is given to pel form the work of their Master in one parish, for a generation and a-ha-if, and when in such a case the inevitable wrench eventually comes to uunder trio ties that have existed between pastor and people it is painful beyond expression. The closing of the mm;- ; isfcry in a particular district of a clergyman who has enjoyed the _ confidence of the residents whose spiritual guide he has been is not at any tune a light matter. Where the connection between the minister and the congregation has existed, however, as in. Mr Will's case, ifor a period practically coeval with tuo history of the district, and uninterrupted harmony has marked their relations, the snapping of the bends between them conatitutos a distinctly solemn occasion. Mr Will's experience in. the East Taieri was in one respect almost exceptional. When, in company with the Rev. Mr Bannerman, he arrived in Otago in 1851 there was no congregation awaiting him. " There was no congregation to call me, co I had to call it, organise it, and persuade it to accept me as jta minister. There was no alternative." In this way, as he states in his farewell address to his congregation, their relationship commenced. It may be doubted whether it could have boen happier had tho ordinary routine of choosing and calling a minister been gone through. Had Mr Will not beon the possessor of an indomitable spirit and unquenchable zeal he could not successfully have essayed the. task he undertook. rlher lhe minute adopted by the Presbytery in accepting Mr Will's resignation shows what, in 1851, lay before the young minister, then m his thirtieth year: — '"His first charge, almost diocesan in its extent, embraced all the territory from Dunedin southwards as far as Waihola ; and before men who have now reached mid-life were bom Mr Will could be scon trudging on foot from East Taieri, as his centre, carrying the ordinances "and consolations of religicm to the scattered settlers of the wide area out of which havo been carved since the paioclr.al charges of East, West, North, and South Taieri, and of Mosgiei and Green Island, as well as the preaching stations of Saddle Kill, Brighton, and Kuri. The labour oT pastorally visiting in this iimnense stretch of country must have been very great. There were, no roads for some years, or worse than none. Kb inconsiderable part of tha Taieri Plain was an impassable swamp; but Mr Will, then in the flush of youth, never grudged the labour, and never spared himself." Foi-tunate was it for the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland that it was to men like Mr Will that the work of preaching the go3pel in this settlement was first entrusted. Burns, Will, Bannerman — the three pioneer ministers appointed by the Colonial Coramittee of the Free Church of Scotland to preach tho message in Otago — to what extent is not the church indebted to thorn, and to Dr Stuart, who followed them, for the position it now occupies? Of these four Mr Will and Mr Bannerman, sturdy sons of the faith, still remain, and in his seventy-fifth year Mr Will i 3 fairly entitled to claim", with his fellow passenger of thr ship Stately, his rest fiorn active labour. '"Able in debate and wise in counsel," ho will still \>p at band to give the church the benpfit of his wide experience :>nd rino wisdom, while he will take with him into his retirement the sympathetic regard of tioops of friends.