MISSION FOR MEN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14153, 12 March 1910, Page 5

MISSION FOR MEN.

REV. H. S. WOOLLCOMBE AT TEMUKA. i „ Thursday evening the Rev H , S. y.colk-ombe, of the Church of Eng- . Socie:v 5 addressed a, i S e -"i S rp rilU£s meeting in the Parish ! Teniiika. The weather condi- ' v '" i x re aii - favourable to a I attendance, nevertheless about i °;v" e:1 ,v >*re present, j xiis 'iiorihij bhe j,layer Dresided and j hi the speaker referred to -ie success or Mr \\ oollcorabe's missions in Now Zealand and Australia, and spic. Jus wons; was undoubted'v in tne direction of lifting the hearts'and minds oi men from the selfish side of lire to one or more christian-like pretensions. ~' xr , ooilcombe, who has a nloasaui [ ac 1 f ? ! 0rc 'bl 2 style of delivery, put himself m good favour with his audience by saying that he was not quite a cuiim to South Canterbury, rs he haa a short- time a 2 o visited Timaru to ff s ?" le rne ? ds °f his uncle the late -ti. l " 7 " collcombs, who resided there for many years and in companv with Mr Adcock he had fished the trout streams round about He outlined tha objects for which the Mis-

sion Society was started, namely, that the social conditions of the adherents of the Church should he improved bv the teachings of Jesus Christ as Ha woula wiik them and not in the selfisK manner as was too frenuentlv the fnse to-dav. Tlie sins of Inst, 'selfishness ana drunkenness were singled out as the cause or much miserv and poverty m many parts of the Old Land, and ho prayed that such a condition of affairs would not reach this fair land. He gave striking illustrations of the greed of so-called T>?or>le cf the rocial scale. who would exact exorbitant rents rrom the pocr, ill-clad and starving people of the populated parts of the cities of England, and the necessity for co-operation m combating these evils. He referred to the pitiful examples of the fall of many promising careers of young men through 1 the sin of intemperance and was most severe on the gambling evil which had so much hold on the people of this dominion, indicting in severe terra? the Government that legalised the totahsat-or and the bookmaker, and permitted a man to cultivate the dei sire to possess by chance the hard- | earned toil of a fellow creature and ; thc-n men would ytlaim to be ! members of the christian brotherhood, j He deplored such hypocrisy and cant. |ln scathing terms he condemned the j false "lives practiced by men. whoso j social conditions were supposed t-o ' place them in such positionss of example as to be beyond moral reproach. But the very environments of such men. made them the enemies of Jesus Christ and they were the greatest sinners. An entire absence of regard for the daughter or s ; -ter of another man I was a lamentable -,dhJr..» of affairs; 1 nevertheless it was me. There was a i lack of th» moral cods and want of ! respect- and failure- to appreciate God's reouirements. To combat all these evils it w:;s necessary that every member of the ( hurch should do his beft. : n.T matter how small, in the great structure which required on co-opera- . tive lines united effort. This was not . the work of the clergy but the laity, ; and in the past this factor had not been recognised. It entailed a litt!© • self-sserifice, but the reward was great j and the lesulis wonderful. They j must decide -whether or not they ! would continue to fellow a course that was for good and a credit to christianI it-y or one that was a discredit. There ! was much they could do by example • and the words or St. Paul should be ever before them. They must- break down the class distinctions that- permeate nil leligiojss and remember in His eye-s all are canal. The speaker next dwelt unon the power of fervent and continuous, and gave his audience illustrations of its wonderful effect. He urned them to recognise one and all that they had a mission to perform and its reward would be the crown of ece~nal salvation. He closed an earnest and lucid address by relating a pathetic incident in tho Boer war touching the bravery and devotion of a soldier on the field cf battle to his comrade, both of whom were wounded ard the subsequent visit by the late Quth Victoria to tho survivor as he lay in a hospital after be->!g invalided home. !Mr Win. Stewart moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Woollcombe for his fine efforts and exm-esseed a hope that- his labours would be with the success thev so richlr de-sc-red. The motion was carried by acclamation. To-morrow evening Mr Woolecmbe w ;1 ! deliv-r nil address in the Theatre Royal, Timaru.