By Rev. Wm. MacLean, M.A.
I arrived in Auckland on Friday, 16th March. Quite a number of the congregation were at the airport meeting me including Mr and Mrs E. Christensen in whose hospitable home I stayed as in former years before a minister was settled in Auckland. I supplied Auckland for four Sabbaths, and visited all the families in the congregation. When visiting Mrs MacLeod and family in the manse it was hard to realise that Mr MacLeod was no longer with us in this world. He finished his course in this world with joy, leaving behind him fragrant memories. Mrs MacLeod took me to the cemetery where his mortal remains await a glorious resurrection. On his grave stone are the words which he himself requested to be inscribed — “There shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and the unjust.” Although deprived of a devoted pastor, the attendance at the Sabbath services is about one hundred. The services are conducted by the elders.
Owing to an air strike which was called off on the Wednesday I was to leave for the Gisborne communion. I was not able to arrive until 9 p.m. As the weekly prayer meeting is at 7 p.m., and the airport being near the town, a large number of the congregation were there to welcome me. The Rev. E. A. Rayner was assisting along with me at the communion. I don’t think I ever saw Mr Rayner looking so well. The Question on the Friday was John 1:13 and 14. “But as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” There were twenty men at the communion who could be called upon to speak. All who were called made it clear that they were giving all the glory of their salvation to Christ. One of the brethren told us of the Red Indian who in bye-gone days came before a Kirk Session in Canada seeking admission to the Lord’s Table for the first time. In the course of his being examined, he said in connection with his conversion that he had done his own part, and that Christ had done His. On being asked to explain what he meant by his doing his part and Christ doing His part, he answered, “I did all the sinning and Christ did all the saving.” It was a most refreshing Fellowship meeting. Mr Rayner opened the Question and Mr van Dorp closed it.
The morning prayer meetings at 8 a.m. were, as usual, well attended, with an average attendance of sixty. There was a new communicant — Mrs Ken MacPherson. It is encouraging to see the number of young men who are professing in the Gisborne congregation. I conducted the services on the Sabbath after the communion. While I was in Gisborne, I was, as in Auckland, hospitably entertained by the families of the congregation.
On Wednesday, 25th April, Mr and Mrs Jim MacPherson accompanied by two of their boys, the two youngest in the family, took me down in their car to Havelock North, where Mr and Mrs Cox, formerly of Hastings, now reside. Havelock North is a few miles from Hastings, and about 140 miles from Gisborne. Both Mr and Mrs Cox and Miss Jocelyn Cox, who was on the staff of the Mbuma Hospital, were present at the Gisborne communion. Mr Jan van Dorp and Mr Robert Vette, who are in charge of the Westminster Standard Publications, also drove down to Havelock North. As the notice of the services sent in by Mr Cox to the local paper did not appear, there were no strangers present at the service held in the evening. I stayed as formerly in the hospitable home of Mr and Mrs Cox. On Thursday, the following day, Mrs MacPherson and the boys returned home to Gisborne but Mr MacPherson, Mr Jan van Dorp, Mr Vette and myself drove down to Palmerston North. That evening I preached in the hall of the Lutheran Church as in former days. There was an encouraging attendance. It was in this hall I preached in June 1967 the sermon on “The Good Hope of the Life Everlasting” (I Peter 1:3-4), which has been translated into Dutch, Arabic and Chinese. On Friday we proceeded south to Wellington where I conducted the services on the Sabbath. I stayed, as in former days, in the hospitable home of Mrs MacKenzie, a native of Borve, Lewis. I was also handsomely entertained by friends in Wellington. On Monday I parted with my companions in travel whose fellowship and kindness I much appreciated, and crossed the Tasman by the afternoon flight to Sydney. On Tuesday, 1st May, I had a service in the hall of St John’s Church in Parametta, where the services are now being held in Sydney. As in former places, so in Sydney it was indeed refreshing to meet with old and new friends.
On Wednesday I travelled up by ‘plane to the Grafton communion where I received an affectionate welcome from the Grafton friends, among them Mr Donald J. Shaw, who is now in his 87th year and looking much the same, alert and agile, as when we parted on 2nd February 1976. Miss Irene Bailey who, along with her late devoted friend Miss Flora Shaw, donated their beautiful mansion to the congregation as a manse, was
able in spite of all her bodily infirmities, to be out at all the services. The Lord was good and gracious to us at the Grafton communion. There was one new communicant, Mr Murray MacAlpine, a young married man, in his early thirties. On Thursday, 11th May, I boarded the Brisbane Express from Sydney in Grafton at 5.20 a.m. and arrived in Brisbane about 10 a.m. Mr Alistair Shaw of Hurstville, Sydney, was meeting me at the station. Mr and Mrs Shaw travelled up to Brisbane after the Grafton communion to visit their son Richard. That evening I held a service in the hall where services are periodically held by Mr Rayner. As it was the time of the school holidays Mr and Mrs Green and family with whom I used to stay were away on holiday at the time. There were only eight present, six men and two women. In spite of the fewness of the numbers present, I was favoured with a measure of liberty in speaking from the words, “Verily verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Before leaving Sydney I conducted the services in Grafton on the Sabbath after the communion. I would take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to Mr and Mrs Shaw and Richard for their generosity and to the other friends while I was in Brisbane; to Mr and Mrs Rayner and to Mr and Mrs J. A. T. van Dorp during my stay in their hospitable manses; to Miss C. M. Shaw, with whom I stayed in Sydney and who showed me great kindness; to Mr and Mrs Christensen, Auckland, who are certainly not forgetful to entertain strangers; and last but not least to the beloved friends in Grafton.
During my sojourn in both New Zealand and Australia the Lord in His infinite goodness favoured me with excellent health, except for the first few days after my arrival when I was suffering from the effects of the inoculation for smallpox I had in Ness some days prior to my departure.
It was encouraging in Australia and New Zealand that there are evidences of young people being brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, and to note in the different congregations I visited a desire to walk in and keep to the old paths. May the Lord hasten the day when the isles shall wait for His law and the little one become a thousand and the small one a great nation. The last verse quoted, “the little one shall become a thousand,” I was informed, was the promise the late Rev. Donald Beaton had for the Cause in Australia.
In bidding farewell to all the friends in Australia and New Zealand, the warmth of whose affection and kindness I shall ever cherish, I would quote the closing verses in the General Epistle of Jude, “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our
Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”