PRESBYTFRIAN SYNOD,

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 17 April 1901, Page 9

PRESBYTFRIAN SYNOD,

THE QUESTION OF UNION. The Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland met pro re Data in the hall of First Church on the 9th. The Very Rev. the Moderator (the Rev. J. U. Spence) piesided, and some 60 members of synod were present. The synod having been duly constituted, ths moderator's circular calling a pro re nata meeting was read. On the motion of the Rev. A. M. Finlayeon, the synod approved of the action of the m6deiator, and sustained the res nata. MOTION OF CONDOLENCE. The Rev. Mr Cameron made brief reference to death of the Rev. D. N. Pryor, 8.A., mentioning that the deceased had been trained in their own Theological Hall, and was a graduate of the Otago University ; that for a time he had officiated as assistant to the Rev. Mr Hewitson, and had boine his subsequent illness with Christian fortitude and resignation. In concluding, the Rev. Mr Cameron moved—'" That the synod express its condolence with the relatives of the Rev. Mr Pryor ; the Rev. Mr Hewitson and^ the mover to be a committee to draw up the resolution." — Motion agreed tc. THE TJNTON QUEStION. The Rev. J. Gibb said thai, a largely attended meeting of the Union Committee ha 1 been held during the afternoon, which j had adopted the following report : — It is with sincere thankfulness to Almighty God that the committee now reports to the synod the success of the negotiations for union ■with the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The General Assembly at Wanganui accepted the basis of union submitted by the synod without alteration of jot or tittle. They also unanimously agieed to join hands with this church in sectiring the passing of the bill to conserve the properties at the ensuing session of Parliament. They further empowered their Union Committee to do what is further necessary to the consummation of the union, and authorised their moderator to call an in hunc effectum meeting of assembly as soon as the committee reports that the time has come for the final step in the long road to the ardently wished-for goal. It is now for the synod to come into line with the assembly by instructing the committee, in the event of the bill becoming law, to complete the arrangements for the first meeting of the Assembly of the United Church. If the synod does so a conference will be held in Christchurch between the two committees, at which all the details as to the business to be transacted at the assembly can be easily adjusted. • The committee now requests the synod to empower them to take these and other steps as may be necessary.. The next ordinary meetins of the synod is fixed for the last Monday of October, the 96th of that month. On Monday and the two following days the synod will be *ble to dispose of the business of its final sederunt as the supreme couit of the Otago Church. On Thursday, the last day of October the first meeting of the United Assembly would foe held. It may be aa well for the synod now to adopt this date, though there is no absolute necessity for doing so, since the exact day can ,iie determined when the synod meets on the 28th of October. A large part of the business ■ihat would under ordinary circumstances fall to be transacted by the synod can be biought before the assembly— such business as mism>Uß, church extension* and the like. TUeje

will not be the slightest difficulty m airanjing all these matters. Nothing can Jiow be gamed by delay. The success of the negotiations now depends on our swiftly marching on to the grand consummation. The bill has been entrusted to the cave of Robert M'Nab, Esq , M H.R. of Matauia. There is little doubt that the bill will become law iii the form in v.-hich it left the hands of the synod and assembly. There will, however, be certain expenses incuried in getting it through the Houses of Parliament, and the committee therefore requests the synod to induct the Church Board of Property to provide the funds needed for thia purpose. James Gibb, Convener. He (the Rev. Mr Gibb) had drafted two motions gathering up the recommendations of the report, which he suggested should be taken seriatim — (1) That this assembty receive tho report, and, in the event of the passing of the bill, instruct the committee, m conjunction with the committee of the Northern Church, to make the necessary arrangements for the consummation of the union in the laft week of October, the precise day and nour to be fixed %>y the united commit- i tees. The basis of union and the bill had been adopted by both churches with une- ' nimity, and the assembly and synod had ! empowered their representative Union Com- | mittees to secure the passing of the bill at j the coming se&sion of Parliament. The Hon. ; Mr Hall-Jones had expressed himself as ' favourably to the measuie, and had at first thought it might be taken up as a public j biZl, but subsequently advised that for j ous reasons it should be promoted as a ' private bill. Mr M'Nab, M.H.R., had a 1 so been consulted, and had expressed the j opinion that it would be an honour to him ] to taloe chaige of the bill, and, after com- j municating with the Hon. Mr Hall- Jones on the subject, he had agreed to do so. There was no reason to doubt | that the bill woukl be parsed. ' Everything pointed m the direction of the bill going through the House in the form in which they submitted it What was, ' therefore, required now was that the synod , Fhould come into Hue with the Northern , Church, and give the committee power to complete the arrangements for the con- I summation of the union in Octobei next. | If this were done there would be a con- ' ference of the two committees in Christ- i church, at which all necessary details would , be attended to Amongst other matters, t:ie conference would arrange for the nomina- ] tion of the committees of assembly, prepare the meeting act, and other busmen. He was persuaded that three days would be i ample for the closing business of the synod, . and the assembly would meet on Thursday, ! the 31st of October. But it would be better j to leave the fixing of the day and hour in , the hands of the combined committees. He I asked was there any objection to the course ' suggested? It might be said there was | undue haste. But let them think of the long years they had been discussing this , matter ; let them further consider that the Northern Church was ready, and had indeed made arrangement* for a very early consummation of the union ; let them also take into account the fact that iv October the I members of synod would be in Dunedin, . and it would be a great pity to bring them *back again a few months later ; let them consider the.=e things, and they would see that it was extremely advisable to complete the unioa at the earliest possible moment.

There was, in addition, a more seiious reason than any of these The bill which they were forwarding practically asked the State to declare the churche= united As pro-peity-holding corporations, they would be united as vsocn as the bill became law. All that was needful after thai was the puiely formal process of adopting a uniting act, r.nd coming together as the United General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. He anticipated that it would be a very great occasion The northern brethren would meet in Knox Church and adopt the Uniting Act ; the synod would meet in St. Andrew's Church and do the same; then the two bodies would march to the Octagon, and from there proceed to First Church. He predicted that the meeting would be one of gieat gladness and spiritual quickening. There had been many memorable gatherings of Presbvtcrians in thi» cit3 r , but that whien would then be held would, in historic im- , portance and spiritual impressiveness, far ' exceed anything that any of them had hitherto taken part in, at least in this part of the world — (Applause.) The Rev. Mr Nicoll seconded the resolution, and said it was cause for much congratulation that the present meeting of syuod should be held in order to put the crown upon the ripened negotiations for union. He trusted that when they assembled later in the year to constitute the union they might do so in such a spirit that the event itself might be Pttended with such enthusiasm as would further the vital interests of religion thiousjhout the borders of the Prasbyteiian Church in New Zealand, and prove bsnefu ml to all denominations of evangelical C'ni-tendom re- ] resented in + his cilo.iv. The Rev A. M. Fmlayoon °aid that it seemed to him there \>a> undue ha-ste, but at the saiie time lio did not vv i^h to delay the consummation of the union. There was no provision for a united general assembly, and he therefore moved as follows: — "The synod learns with tbat the Assembly of the Noithern dim oh has accepted the corresponding ha-jis of union, and in order to have the union completed ps soon a 5 possible, diiects the moderator, in the event of the bill embodying the bp^s of union heing pawed into law, to call upon the presbyteries to appoint representatives to tho first general assembly of the United Church in terms of article 3 of the ba=is, and instruct the Union Committee of the Northern Church to arrange all the nece^ary detail* for the meeting of the general assembly." The Rev. Dr Bannermann characterised the action of tne General Assembly of the Northern Church m agreeing to the basis of union without remitting it to presbyteiies as despotic and un-Presbyterian. The Moderator objected to Dr Bannerman going into the merits of the question The Rev. Dr Bannerman maintained that they were entitled to look upon the manner in which this resolution had been adopted and what was its real bearing upon the constitution of their church. He would mo^e — "That we fall from the basis of union already adopted." The point was raised that this motion was out of order, as it was a reversal of what had already been done, and numerous other points of order were iai=ed and debated, i mpinly turning upon whether it was com- J petent to review or comment upon the ba^is ' of union. '

The Rev. Dr Bannerman spoke strongly, asserting that they were committing themselves to a ma»s of confusion, violating^be very fundamentals of the original eonslmition of the church, defeating ite policy and endangering its existence. What was- proposed was the consummation of union upon a basis which had been condemned by both the contracting parties. He moved — "Ihat previous to agreeing to the consummation of tl.c proposed union it be remitted to the Union Comnfittee, m conjunction with the Union Committee of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, to prepare a formula to be signed and questions to be answered by ministers and office-bea-crs previous to oidination and induction, with a view of determining the sense in which the adouted standards are received. " The Moderator, on being appealed to, accepted Dr Bannerman's motion a? being in mder. This ruling was challenged, and, o:i the motion of the Rev. P B. Fraser, the moderator's decision was reversed by 29 Lto 13, and the amendment was con-equently disallowed. Upon the question being put, the Rev. Mr Gibb's motion was carried by a veiy large majority, only three members votinc; against it, two of whom were the Rev Dr Bannerman and Dr Copland. The amendment moved by the Rev. A. M. Finlayson was accepted uuon being mpde (o read as follows: "Direct the presbyteries, iv the event of a bill embodying the ba^ris of union being parsed into law, to appoint representatives to the fir=t poneral asocmbly of the United Church in terms of aitie'e 3,"' etc In this form the motion was adopted ncm con. On the pjotion of the Rev. Mr Gibb, it wfs also lesolvcd to "inform the trustees that the bill is to be promoted by the synod. and request them to piovide for its finance " The a-eoeptanee of o strongly-worded protect tendered by Dr Bannerman was negatived after discussion, the majority maintaining ihat tho prctc-t lelated to bu.-iness previously transacted ,and was therefore incompetent. In re-pect of thi'- matter the synod also reverse'! t^e decision of the moderator, who had previously signified his intention to acceDt the protest. VISIT OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CORXWvLL, ETC. The Moderatoi biought before the the communication he sent to his Excellency on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of <>«-ago ie?pectmg the death of our late beloved Sovereign Queen Victoria and the reply t'nerpto. and a resolution was parsed approving of the action of the moderator. The Rev. \V. Hewitson moved — " That a small committee be set up to draw up an address upon the death of the Queen, the accession of the King, and the approaching royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall ; such committee to consist of the moderator, thf clerk, Professor Dunlop, Dr Watt, Dr Waddell, and Mr E. B. Cargill." The name of the Rev. Mr Hewitson, as convener, was added to the committee, and the motion was adopted. On the motion of the Rev. Gibson Smith, it vva* further resolved — "That it be an in-s-titK tion to the same committee to draw up a spec al minute m relation to the d<=ath of the Queen for insertion in the minutes of < -ynod." THE OUTLOOK. The synod, in committee, discussed a pro-

po=al for the amalgamation of the Advocate w ith tho Outlook upon conditions mentioned in the report presented. After an animated discussion, the proposed amalgamation of the papers was agreed to by an aln:o=t unanimous vote. The minutes weie confirmed, and the proceedings terminated shortly after 11 o'cloos