CHURCH PARADE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1393, 1 December 1884, Page 2

CHURCH PARADE.

The Ashburton Volunteers held their quarterly Chqrch parade yesterday. To the number of 46 the Volunteers, with the Band, paraded in front of the Post Office at ten o’clock. After the usual preliminaries of proving the company, etc, the company marched to the Presbyterian Church, where the men were accommodated with specially reserved seats, and a few of the vocalists among them having been invited by the organist tonk places in the choir. The Rev James Hill, of Lyttelton, conducted the service, and

choosing for his subject the passage in the story of the Centurion of the Italian band, where the officer is referred to as ‘‘a devout soldier,” he proceeded to point out that devoutneas was not at all incompatible with a soldier’s life. The wars of recent years had disclosed some noble examples of Christian piety in the British army, and the very fact that the men now before him came to worship God as a company of soldiers showed that a man could be both a soldier of the Cross and a soldier of the Queen. He granted there was great irreligiousness in the British army, but the existence of irreligioueness did

not at all imply that religion in the ranks was impossible. He commended the Volunteers for assuming the position of citizen soldiers, and mentioned three things that called them together. These were “ defence, discipline, and loyalty.” In reference to defence he spoke of th peculiar circumstances of this colony, and was pleased to notice the spirit which animated the Volunteers, whose enrolment put the colony in a state of preparedness for war, no matter from what source it might come. He urged them, in this connection, to be prepare! with equal courage and determination to fight the enemies of their souls ; to guard against vice and sin of every kind, and to defend their spiritual citadel against the assaults of the wicked one. Similarly did he aptly refer to thj necessity for training and discipline, and urged obedience to the laws and precepts of the Great Captain of their salvation. As discipline in the ranks was imperative, so also was discipline in life if a man were to ba good and happy. Loyalty was one of the motives that brought men to the ranks of the Volunteers. In no reign had the subjects of a sovereign had better reason to pray “ God save the Queen ” than had the subjects of Her gracious Maj sty. But they had a higher sovereign than the Queen—the King of kings, tho Lard God Almighty. While they were faithful to then* earthly sovereign he urged them not to forget their loyalty to God their Maker and Christ their RqJeeiqer. Thro.qgho.nt the sermon was fqll of sound Christian advice and instruction, and the Volunteers paid marked attention to the precepts given to thorn so lucidly and so forcibly by the rev. gentleman. Suitable hymns were sung during the service, and at the conclusion the man marched back to the Post Office for dismissal.