Presbyterian 'Fast' days

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9, 4 March 1909, Page 329

Presbyterian ' Fast ' days

Tho advent of Lent, the season of special fasts and abstinence, brings to mind tho fact that at one time in the early history of Now Zealand ( fast ' days, of a kind, were almost universally observed throughout the Presbyterian Province of Otago. The Westminster Confession of Faith — the authorised doctrinal standard of the Presbyterian Church — includes ' solemn fasts ' as part ' of the ordinary worship of God,' and prescribes that they are 'in their several times and seasons to be iised in a holy and religious manner.' Otago, which was a Presbyterian settlement, was, in its earlier days, practically ' run ' by our Presbyterian friends, and the appointed ' fast ' days were recognised by the Provincial Government as public holidays and were generally observed as approximating "to wliat Catholics call holidays of obligation. The history of the decline and fall of Presbyterianism from even this little touch of Catholicism is succinctly told in The Story of the Otago Church and Settlement by the Rev. C. S. Ross. ' Fast days, as a sacramental institution, had _ taken firm root in Otago. They had been introduced as a most excellent custom of the Free Church of Scotland, and were observed as days of humiliation and prayer, preparatory to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. . . For many years all sections of the community paid outward respect to the institution; business operations were generally suspended, and the Provincial Government recognised it as a public holiday. But as population increased, and the religious element in it grew less influential, the churches, on these days for preparatory exercises, became more thinly attended. . . The Church courts became greatly exercised over this, and in May, 1873, a conference of ministers and office-bearers was held in the First Church [Dunedin] to consider the whole subject. The following resolution was" then passed, namely: "That this meeting regrets the great indifference manifested by members and adherents of ,the Presbyterian Church in Dunedin to the proper observance of the Fast Days, and expresses the desire that ministers and office-bearers will direct the special attention of members and adherents to the due observance of these days, and in the hope that it may not be found necessary to abolish them." Things did not mend, however, in this direction, and the churches, while lamenting the necessity for it, began to move for their abolition. After a good deal of discussion in the Kirk Session of Dunedin and suburbs, and after two conferences of, office-bearers had been held on the subject, it' was agroed that the continuanco of Sacramental fast days in those churches was inexpedient.'

The institution lingered on for a f'ow years in some of the country districts and in remoter parts of the land, but it is now, we believe, utterly extinct. The R^v. John. Macphersou, M.A., in his handbook on the Confession of l (l aith, written for Presbyterian Bible Classes, romarks: ' Occasions are ever occurring to render such fasts . appropriate. If the clmrches are not in a state to observe them profitably, it indicates a very low development of spiritual life. 1 We express no opinion ourselves on the matter; hut we cannot help suspecting that the comment just quoted gives expression to the sentiments which the Otago ministers and office-bearers themselves felt when they made such strenuous efforts to retain this wholesome and Scriptural custom.