Lake Scugog Historical Society Historic Digital Newspaper Collection

Port Perry Star, 17 Jan 1924, p. 1

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ok lers, etc. for the School Hoy Pr 's Egg Producer for the Hens. Mois and Martha Jane Chocolates MORRISON'S DRUG STORE received a cheque for Christmas. Why not i Silverware? collected her Community Plate ina. mia oman, bus v Sveryds pile Juuireents _ with Community for every day need of : pieces at our store before deciding on some- lll not give satisfaction. Money cannot buy SYRUP er, your syrup is by bulk. We y brand at 71% cents per Ib. dessert you can buy. Bring your we will be pleased to fill it for you. ens working for you while eggs are sel 'price. In order to do this you must f proper kind of feed--Blatchford's Fill-the-. Mash gives fine results. We have it: also grit, which are both necessary if you Ontario il | University, Baltimore. | of Alexander Graham-and Annie| | Hesiod. - Her birth took place on| the 26th day of May, 1849. "The G homestead was _U|the first farm cleared in Reach Township, and for many years life lived by the pioneers. i The surroundings of those days have passed, due to the good judgment and industry of Mr. and Mrs. Graham, and, later, of Mr. Peter Christie and his family. Fine buildings, well tilled soil, noted herds of cattle and horses, flocks of pure bred sheep. these through hard work, have emerged from the forest of 65 years ago. ; In 1879, Mary Graham married Mr. Peter! Christie. and the young couple set up housekeep- ing on the Graham homestead. 3 | Their family of three boys have grown to manhood, and are filling honored places in society. The eldest son is Prof. A. Gra- ham Christie, of Johns Hopkins The sec- ond soo is Mr. Fred Christie, civ- il engineer, Toronto. Mr. Grant Christie, the third son, remained l| on the farm with his father. Public duties formed a large part of Mr. Peter Christie's life work, as Warden of the County, and as Member of the Dominion || Parliament. In all this work and fl |in the devélopment of her sons, fl | Mrs. Christie was an able help: meet. Happily, she lived many years to enjoy those things for | which she labored; and hers was, the great pleasure to have a just pride in the success of her family as they grew in ability and wil- ling to be of service t humanity" An oustanding feature in the] life of Mrs. Christie was her at- ®itachment to the Presbyterian Church. When this Church was started in Prince Albert, Mrs. Christie was a charter member, and remained a valued member until the removal to Port Perry, Since that time she has been a member of St. John's Presbyter- ian Church. Seventy-five years of good liv- Bling bring a wonderful treasure-- of material wealth-- but better still, of high esteem and affec- tion." All who knew the late | Mrs. Christie will appreciate the |appropriateness in the present case of the epitaph which ap. peared on the tomb of the la "| President Garfield: : 'Life's race well run, L 'e's work well done, 's crown well won, . Now comes rest." house stood--a monu-| ment to the simple, industrious d confer with representatives from otl ar evan- s, having power to enter into any arrangement will tend to bring about a more satisfactory in our Home Mission Fields, so that the over- mplained of may be prevented." : 8ea these missionaries were the pioneers of Christian- ity in those frontiers of civilization. Their "fields of labor" were large and their pay was small. They went for months at a time without seeing another white man, and it must have embarrassifig when at last a brother missionary did appear, to feel that in some sense he was a rival if he represented some other church. Nor was it an easy*matter to explain to the Blackfeet Indians and similar persons, the points of difference between the doctrines of the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational Churches. While we are discussing the matter of dactrine it would _ be well to look into the Twenty Articles of Doctrine, Perhaps if these Articles were carefully studied, there would be less talk of doctrinal errors creeping into the Church as the result of Church Union. It would be a wonderful thing for humanity if our doc- trines could be simplified so that ordinary persons could under- stand what they professed to believe. In spite of all our differences of opinion, great strides have - been made toward Church Union during the past fifty years. Before me is a diagram of the Methodist, Presbyterian bodies in Canada before their respective unions--of Methodists in 1884--of Presbyterians in 1876--and of Congregationalists in 1906. ! The diagram of these churches before their "unions" re- minds one of those complicated genealogical charts which we see in histories. The names of the differing churches within these three branches of the Protestant church, remind us of the bitter struggles that used to-go on between the little churchesiconcerned.. How vital those differences seemed then! Now only the stident of religion will understand the 'reason: for disagreement. Most of us would be compelled to admit-- "But what they fought each other for 1 could not well make out." To the layman, the doctrinal basis of union appears to be quite orthodox, and there is no ground for alarm in this par- ticular. After the initial mevement by the Presbyterians in 1899, a Joint Committee was formed representing the three church bodies. The convenors were Principal Caven for the Presby- terians, Dr. Carman for the Methodists, and Rev. Hugh Pedley for the Congregationalists. The first meeting of the Joint Committee met in Knox Church, Toronto, in 1904. But before the meeting took place, Principal Cavan died, and his place was taken by Rev. Dr. Warden. The next meeting of the Committee was in 1905. In 1906, at the third meeting of the Committee, it was de- cided 'to address 8 friendly letter to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England in Canada; and to the Pres- idents or Chairmen of the various Baptist Conventions . extending to the authorities of the churches named a cordial invitation to send delegates to participate in their discussions, should they consider it advisable to do so." The Baptists replied that they considered it "necessary to maintain a separate organized existence," and "to propagate their views throughout the world." He The replies sent by the representatives of the Church of England were most cordial, and the matter of sending dele- gates was taken into consideration, but so far as we know, no delegates attended the meetings of the Joint Committee. In December 1908, the Joint Committee considered that they were prepared to report (after five years' investigation) that the union of the three churches was practicable. In 1909 the General Assembly received this report with "gratification" and in 1910 it was decided to submit the matter to the vote of the church members. In that vote of 1911 throughout the entire membership of the Presbyterian Church the result was [as follows; In answer to the question--"Are you in favor of organic union with the Methodist and Congregational hurches?"' of 9675 elders, 6245 voted for, 2475 against. Of 287,944 com- icants, 56 voted for, and 48,278 against. Of the ad- | herents, 37,176 voted for, and 14,174 against. ; tho Methods urch, the result of the vote on organic ,280 officials, 23,476 voted for, and 3869 ) 298, mbers, 18 years and over, 160,841 voted ,857 against. Of 29,873 members under 18 years of voted for, and 2615 against. Of adherents 42,115 Cy wiih effective service on the part of our Canadian C Port Perry Branch, - H. G. Hutcheson, | There are some other matters that should be considered connection with Church Union. The statement has ) been made that many Presbyterian Churches would into Union when they are opposed to Union. For sueh ample provision has been made in the following Section 8, of "Proposed Provincial Legislation" as amended Sept. 1922:~-- "Provided always that if any congregation in con: nection or communion with any of the negotiating churches shall, at a meeting of the congregation regularly called and held within six months after the passing of this Act, decide by a majority of votes of the persons in full membership whose names are on the roll of the church, present at Such meeting, not to concur in the said union of the said churches, but to withdraw therefrom, then and in snch case the property, real and personal, belonging to, or held in trust for, or to the use of, such congregation shall remain unaffected by this Act, and the congregation shall also be entitled, as one of the non-concurring congregations therein named, to the benefit of the provisions made in the Act of Incorporation for non-congregations. Should such congregation so decide at any later time to enter into the union and become part of the United Church then this Act shall apply to the eongregation and all the property thereof from the date of such decision.'" This section is repeated in the proposed Act of Incorpor- ation as Section 9, and Section 10, and its seven sub-section make every provision for the protection of the rights of the non-coneurring congregations, in all matters pertaining to church property, sources of income, ete. Under the circumstances, there seems to be no necessity for further votes, except in the matter of the denominational colleges. But even in this regard additional voting will not alter the fact that all previous votes of all bodies concerned have been very strongly in favor of Church Union, and all at- tempts to stop the work, are really an opposition to. the con. stituted authorities and the wishes of a large majority of the church, some of whose members are asking for this additional voteé- This is the view of Principal Alfred Gandier, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. He says in a statement issued to the press last Saturday-- "The people have been trusted, and trusted fully. By their own direct vote, and through their representatives in Presby- teries and General Assembly, the people have clearly indicated {heir will. They voted directly at the only time when, accord- ing to our constitution, they could vote, namely, before action was taken by Presbyteries under the Barrier Act. Before the Presbyteries and Assembly took final action not only were all the people invited to vote for or against Union on the present Basis, but they were distinctly told that this "was the" final vote, and that the matter was now to be settled. Thus challenged to express their mind, 22 per cent. of the ch voted against Union, while of those voting there was a major- ity of 40,000 in favor of Union. More than 100,000 did not vote, and thereby declared their willingness to accept the de- cision of those who die vote. In the light of that vote of the people, the Presbyteries, by a majority of 53 to 13 voted in favor of Union on present basis, and the General Assembly by a similar vote of four to one passed the Union proposals into a permanent enactment of the church. Since that decision, the Assembly itself could not change the Chureh's policy on Union without referring the matter to the Presbyteries under the Barrier Act. That the Presbyteries would not entertain A such a proposal for moment is evidenced by the fact thatlast ~~ Spring out of 56 Presbyteries considering the question, 62 52 overtured the Assembly to proceed forthwith to the consum- mution of Union." . We regret that we have not.room for all of Principal Gan- dier's address, but two other statements by him should not be overlooked. One is-- "Some have recently suggested that Parliament should or- der another vote. If Parliament can decide the policy and procedure of the Presbyterian Church . the spiritual freedom for which the Scottish Churches contended since the Reformation, and which they have now fully attained, would at an end in Canada." The other important statement by Principal Gandier is-- 'More than 1200 pastoral charges with some 8000 con- gregations, have taken our Church at her word, and have en- tered into Union in all good faith. To go to the people now for another vote would be to ask whether our Church is to be wun- true to covenants solemnly made with others after long and careful consideration, and believed to be necessary in the most hurches. There are some things the Presbyterian Church in Canada does not do, and one of them is to ask questions of "herself, or else, as to whether she is to keep faith or not. Be matter

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