VICAR AND VESTRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 521, 26 November 1928, Page 14

VICAR AND VESTRY

CHURCH DISSENSION AT NORTHCOTE “SPEAKERS MUZZLED’’ | “So there was division among the people because of Him.” Thus, the text of the sermon preached by the Rev. Thomas Southworth, vicar of St. John the Baptist Church, Xorthcote, last evening, in reference to the differences that have arisen between him and the vestry of the church. Referring to a meeting of parishioners held last Tuesday, the vicar said that in the light of the proceedings at that meeting he might aptly have chosen another text: “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.” He said that many adherents of the Church were debarred at that meeting from either speaking or voting on the ground that their names did not appear on the roll of the church for two months past. “If the letter of our matchless constitution were adhered to it might have been all right, but it was not,” said Mr. Southworth. There was nothing wrong with the constitution providing the roll had been properly kept. He had been under the impression that the only place under the British flag where people assembled, and were not allowed to speak, was within prison walls. The circumstances connected with the roil, in conjunction with the ruling that the letter of the Church law T must be strictly adhered to, had the effect virtually of muzzling the mouths of the speakers in whose keeping was the case for the petitioners who called the meeting on behalf of the congregation. Such was scarcely human charity, and he doubted if such a thing had ever occurred before. People were allowed to vote who had not been on the roll for two months others had been stopped from voting; others stated that they had voted other than they had intended, owing to the ambiguity of the voting paper; and others, again, had abstained from voting because of the lack of a proper ballot, there being no pretension of privacy. These facts, he said, made the whole affair irregular and reduced the proceedings to a farce. “TRUTH WOULD TRIUMPH” Mr. Southworth said he was going to leave his defence in the hands of the Heavenly Master. Those who wished to know the truth could get this from the mouths of friends who were conversant with the whole facts. Human nature being what it was, truth was always the signal for strife. But truth would ultimately triumph. In the meantime the exercise of patience was required. Peace would come out of the turmoil when truth prevailed. In the sight of God, he could say he had striven to keep his ordination vow to encourage quietness, peace and love among the people. He could say he had so striven, in spite of the storm that had arisen about his head. The peace of the New Testament, however, was not a peace at any price, but a peace founded on truth that could be attained only at the cost of privation and suffering. If in his methods of administration he had made mistakes, >he asked them to forgive him. ASSEMBLY MOTOR TOUR Several hundred delegates to the Presbyterian General Assembly, and the Women’s Missionary Conference, were motored to the beauty spots of the city and suburbs on Saturday afternoon. The cars were arranged in five groups, and each followed a different route.