PRESBYTERIAN SOIREE.

Western Star, Issue 406, 1 January 1881, Page 2

PRESBYTERIAN SOIREE.

As a fitting conclusion tothe bazaar festival which terminated on Wednesday, a soiree was held the following evening. The weather had nob recovered it» ill humor cf the past weelc, hut despite this drawback there was a fair sprinkling of vi iters from the country and outlying portions of the town, which resulted in the Oddfellows’ Hall being well filled. The promoters of the meeting deserve credit for the excellence of the arrangements. The tables wore rendered very inviting by the tasteful display of flowers with which they were decorated, and the pleasure thereby derived by the esthetic senses, apparently had a stimulating effect on the more material natures of thoa* present, judging from the speedy manner in which the well loaded tables were demolished. From an intellectual point cf view too the entertainment, was a good success ; a platform containing the Revs. Messrs Cameron, Koss, Paterson, Ewen, and Green conld not fail io make a meeting attractive and profitable. At intervals during the evening an effectual choir rendered some choice pieces of sacred music in a very pleasing man-, tier; Mrs M. McDonald presided at the harmonium. After the tea, The Rev. J. Cameron toek the chair, anti gave a short opening address, in the course of which he said the baz ear had proved a great financial sm-cess.

Mr J. M-.-D-nald, Treasurer, followed with a statement of.the financial position of the church ; 'but as the statement will shnrtlv be mthlisheil in a complete form, further reference need not be made to it than that it was not. quite satisfactory. The sustentapon fund subscriptions had been getting less ev»rv year, and Mr Mc-Donuld impressed upon,the congregation the necessity of raising the (contribution to the general fund to per annriin. ..’’’V

Tn« Chairman said he thought it,,yrijß not, creditable to the congregation that it.'.wasa beggar upon the general fund of th® Church. They had a membership of nearly 200, and surely they ought to be able to raise £2OO per annum to the susteniation fund. That suns only meant £1 per quarter to each member, and heThought none of them were so poor .but w.iat they could afford to give that amount, which woul I ensure them the honorable position of being self-sup-porting.

The Rev Mr Ross (who was received with .applause) was the next speaker. iHe (laid he had listened with pleasure to the Chairman’s ad drees when lie referred to the great success '■of the bazaar; but that feeling gave place to one of the deepest disappointment when he heard the Treasurer’s statement. He remembered with pleasure that during one of the years of his (Mr Ross’) connection with the district, the subscriptions to the sustentation fund amounted to £220. He thought the congregation, being about to erect a new church at a cost of £IOOO, should not allow it to-go forth that they drew £45 from the general fund for the support of their minister. He advised the congregation to make an effort to raise their subscriptions to the sustentation fund to £2OO, and if the subscriptions did not reach that amount, the balance should be taken out of the "IVacon’s Court funds. Mr Ross then related an anecdote of a church collector who called upon a rich New York merchant., whose income amounted to 500,000 nols. per annum, for a subscription. Oh, yes, said the merchant, “ I will give my mite.” “Then I will trouble you,” the collector said, “ for .a cheque for 250,000 dols., and that nun will only be a fraction of your mite. The merchant looked astonished, and ‘**bed for an explanation. ** The widow’s mite, replied the collector, “ was nil she had in the world; your donation of 250,000 dols. would not be equal to the widow’s mite.” People now a-days would he astonished if they were,asked to'contribute ns much to the support of the church as people of old were required to do—ten per cent, of all they possessed. Instead of falliag behiu.t, it was now the duty of psople to give more of their substance to the Lord. Tne reason of the parsimony shown towards the support of the church was this the hearts of the people were not filled with the grace of Christ. If people would only consider that what they had was not their own, that they were all moving to a, country where neither gold nor silver had a place, they would give more of their substance. Mr Ross said he had intended, to speak upon the subject of personal religion, but lie had been betrayed into his former remarks by the unsatisfactory nature of the Treasurer’s statement. A churuh might be numerically strong, and yet the members know little of Christianity. How many Christians turn their aStealion to ends

other than the increase of the Church ? Looking afc the low tone of Christian life, were they not tempted to say that the present were not like the early days of Christianity ?_ Many men had fought" to perpetuate their name upon the err-h ; some had founded kingdoms . and established dynasties, and sought to band down to posterity an account of tho.giories of their reign, cut upon stone —monuments that) often stood for ages, and still gave proof of great skill in construction. But. after all, they now knew but little of the higher life of such men, and their monuments would ultimately crumble away and perish. If there was anything that a man could do to ensure his name being remembered in the everlasting glories of eternity, it would be the saving a soul, rescuing it from darkness, and bringing it into the glorious liberty of Jesus Christ. Some of those present could perhaps tell the value of the gold taken from the Longwood, or th®timber on the ranges, or the wool from a certain number of sheep ; but no one could tell the value of a soul. He saw many chances in the town since he had ceased his connection with it; many souls had passed into<f-rnity, and those present wore left. The time would come when they, too, would be called upon to give an account of the things done in the bo <y. The,Bev. Mr Patterson followed, by wishing all those present (lie Compliments of ths season. It was then rather OOt of place to wish I hem a merry Christmas, but he would a happy new year. -He felt glad to be present that evening, out of respect to the Chairman, who was a personal friend of his own. After a humorous allusion to the difficulty of making a soiree speech, ho said the subject of the few remarks he intended to make would been the “ sunny side.” He often noticed in traversing streets that the side the sun struck was hard and dry to walk upon ; while the other was wet and muddy. He advised people to take the sunny side of life, and when building a home for the soul, place the building to that it would have a sunny exposure. There were some people who had the faculty of seeing the dark side of life, and- who; if they had had anything to do with the creation of the world, would have taken the color from the rose and prevented the birds singing. That was no religion at nil. . God. made the earth full of beauty, and the professors of Christianity who went about with sour faces were sure to drive people away from religion altogether. The world appeared to n man very much in accordance with what bis home was. If the medium was good and bright, bo would see the world aright. After illustra-, ting this remark with an appropriate anecdote, he proceeded to say that there were a great many black clouds lately both at home and in the colonies; Financially the colony had beon in a bad state, and work was ecarce, but they could now see a silyer lining, and if, the past, (aught them a lesson of prudence and economy, their sufferings would not have been in vain. Thera had also been dark clouds is the religious world. When men of high iatellectual calibre gave np re'igion, people were apt tptjimfcjhat religion was in danger. la the case of a ship that bad 200 or 3QO passesgars, if one jumped'overboard, ho created a great sensation; and he felt sure if a great intellect threw religion overboard, the grand old ship would still ride safe. Voltaire had prophesied that the Bible would soon become an obsolete book; but at the present time, the very room in which that prophesy was made was filled with Bibles from floor to soiling. Yes, a silver .lining was now beginning to show itself on the religious cloud, and ho gave professing Christians this advice.- try and show the sunny side of your religion to men, and if they could not do that, let them keep the dark side to themselves. The Bev. Mr Boss said he had been asked to discharge a very pleasing duty. The friends of the Bev. Mr Cameron had considered the difficulties to be surmounted by him in overtaking the work of a wide parish* and in order to relieve him of (he discomfort and weiriness of travelling in the saddle, they bad resolved to purchase a buggy and harness, an i make a presentation of them that evening. He (Mr Boss) could speak from personal experience of the discomfort of saddle trarellim , and the exhaustion consequent upon a combination of severe menial and physical work iu a large parish, and it. was a great relief when one could drive instead of ride. Turning to Mr Cameron, the speaker said; I have pleasure in asking you to accept of the buggy and harness now at the door. The Chairman said if it was difficult to make a soiree speech, it was mure so to make a thanksgiving speech. He knew very little about-the intention to present him with a buggy and harness, and it did not meet with his entire approval. He would rather that Ids® money expended in purchasing these articles had been given towards the new church. At the name time, the gift was welcome, and would be highly valued. During the time he had been iu the district he put forth, in the discharge of his duty, every physical and mental effort of which he was capable, and os this involved three services in diff rent parts of the.pariah each Sunday, he som dimes felt, very much exhausted. He had no doubt he would feel a great advantage from not Having to ride so much in the saddle, and what he gained physically he could give mentally. H® would say to his friend* that h® appreciated the gift, and hoped to use it to their and his own advantage. The Bev Mr Ewen wes the n«xt speaker. He congratulated the Congregation upon the success of the bazaar, and he hoped soon to see » church erected that would bo worthy fcb® metropolis of the Western District;, To the ladies the credit of the success of the bazaar was entirely due, and be hoped their service* wbuldi be properly appreciated. Referring to the deficit in the sustontation fund, he Mid theerywus —times are hard; but it seemed to him that times always were bard There was no difficulty, however, in. getting money for sports and shows, end he thought if more energy were shown in the affairs of the church, there would be no difficulty in getting funds for that purpose also. The Rev. W. Green said a photograph of the manse was shown at the bazaar, and th® pastor was seen standing amongst the rose* la front of the building. The thought occurred to him (Mr Green) that Mr Cameron’s position in the picture wa« emblematical of wha* many people thought a pastor’s life was-—a bed of ros< s, and that he had nothing to do but preach a sermon on Sundays. Those who thought so were very much mistaken. A '’pastor had a great amount of work t« d« during the week, in study, visiting his flock, and watching over people’s whims and fanci«s; in fact he had anything but an enviable tim® of it, and needed the gracs of God to keep him in good humor. He advised the congregation to sb.s that the burden of building ® new church was not thrown upon the shoulders of the pastor. In such cases it frequently happened that the pastor Was put t* great ex', pause, which should not be. Mr Green also referred to the great assistance a suitable wife proved to a pastor, and complimented Mr Cameron in being greatly blessed in that respect. The Chairman acknowledged that Mr Green had proved a good friend to the congregation, and remarked that it was not generally known that that gentleman had given his servio®* free of charge. Mr Cameron then said b« had a duly to perform that gave him great pleasure. There was a feeling in the mind of the congregation for some lime past that MsBailey’s services were deserving of recognition. So useful had he (Mr Cameron) found that gentleman, that he had re-ohristened him Fail-me-Never, and in any case of emergency he always willingly took a work in hand. Owing to many circumstances the token of esteem and gratitude with which he now presented him on behalf of the congregation wm small, but it showed that Mr Bailey’s service® were appreciated. The ladies who went round for subscriptions declared that it was quite » pleasure, as everyone readily responded. Mr Cameron then handsd the recipient a'purse containing twelve sovereigns. Mr Bailey said the pleasure was a niort unexpected one, and he felt he was quit® unworthy of it. He was always pleased to help on the work of the church, as much as he possibly could, but he felt he had done but little. He returned thanks for th® donation. Mr Jus. Reid moved a vote of thanks to -the ladies who had brought tbs bazaar to

inch a firccessi’nl termination. They had placed the 'congregation under a debt of -gratitude, [and lie felt sure if an amount of ■energy was displayed by the office hearers similar to what the ladies had. shown, they vould succeed in racing "funds for the new ■church. He also included in the vote of thanks the ladies who lied promoted the soiree. He thought if (*• gentleman who had charaelerisedSsoifces as “those greasy demonstrations of Christianity” had been present that evening, he would have heard much to elevate the mind. These meetings, Mr Eeid -said, tended to promote harmony and sociality letween members of a congregation. Yoles of thanks to “ The Speakers, “ The ■Choir,” and “ The Chairman ” were also ateed, after which the meeting dispersed.