DIOCESAN SYNOD.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume V, Issue 428, 18 October 1876, Page 3

DIOCESAN SYNOD.

Thb following extracts from Kapler exchanges of the proceedings of the diocesan Synod are published for the information of oar readers j ANNEXATION OP THB 2ABISH OB TATTfcANCA TO THE DIOOESE O? AUCKLAND. The Rev Mr Jordan presented a petition from the parishioners ab Tauranga, praying r tnat the parish should be annexed to the diocese of Auckland, instead of Waiapu* He moved that the petition be receive*. L The Bey. Mr Wauneell eeoondedr Arohdeaoon Williams said be thought! it was no« competent to the Synod to entertain the petition. The matter of altering boundaries rested with the General Bynod. '- The petition was received - - The Bey. K WiHiam 8 . moved that the travelling expenses of the clergy and laity (if demanded) should be met by an aaual contribution from each pariah or district. Mr Hamlin seconded. Mir Lawrence moved an amendmeat to omit the word " equal." The Rev. E Williams said he would accept the amendment. The Rev. Mr Jordan, in accordance with a suegfetion fnom the Chair, moved an amend' ment that the amount for each parish be aa««Bßed by the Standing Committee. Mr Jordan's motion was carried. THB BEY. ME JOBDAn'B STATUS. Mr Fielder's motion, " 'J hat, on the boundi nries of the pnri'sh of Tauranga i eing defined by the Bishop's Ommiesary, the Ministerial status of the Rev charlea Jprdaa is duly..

established by cluuso 16 of Statute 3 of (hit Synod." was agreed to. BOUNDAHIES OF THE DISTRICT, The Bey Charles Jordan moved, " That t*»e flynod take proper steps to have the bound' aries of the district of Tauranga defined and constituted a parish." The mover said he had furnished the President with a letter defining the boundaries very minutely. Mr Locke, seconded the motion, which was carried. The President said it rested with the Synod to define the boundaries. Mr Jordan's, resolution was ultimately re' eoinded, and declared' null and void, and the matter of fixJng the boundaries now rests with the Bishop's Commissary. APP IHTMBHX O5 A BISHOP. It was earned that n memorial should be forwarded to Archdeacon Harper, who was nominated Bishop of Waiapu by the Synod, and declined to accept the office, praying him to reconsider his- decision. ASDBSaS TO THE 1 ATE BISHOP OF WAIAPCT. Mr St Hill moved (by leave and without notice)— " That a committee be elected to prepare an address to ba presented to the Bight Rev Bishop W. Williams, late Bishop of Waiapu, the committee to consist of the Rot E. Williams, Dr Spencer, and the mover (Mr St Hill)." The mover said— Mr Preddent: Before going into any business, I wish %q oall your attention to that whiou is of the past sa well as the present. Wht n the Diooesan Synod was last in session, it was the privilege aa well aa the pleasure of its members to address themselves to your venerable predeoe»<u>r, William WilliaiUd, first Bishop of Waiapu. That ill health should have compelled him to resign the duties of Ins diocese is to be regretted by ue all, and in referring to the fact you will, I trust, allow me to take this opportunity of recognising in as brief a manner a» I can the gift, with the exception ofa few years, of a long life given to missionary work. To the mere worldly. minded it is a matter of surprise — nay, of disbelief — that men should be found capable of great and personal saoriSeoa simply to benefit their felloworeatureß. To such, no evidence, no facts attending the circumstance, but are disbelieved or misunderstood. Wot therefore to man— certainly not of that class— does (he missionary look for encouragement and help in the performance of his arduous duties, but seeking grace and spiritual fellowship from Him who is the giver of health and strength. He leaves relatives and friends, country and home, saying, " Let me take my course, Unit. I may deliver my testimony for hrist, that I may glorify God, whether I live or die " Sir, fifty years and more have now pnssed since a young and enthusiastic man, who had completed his term as a medical student, gave up that profession which, backed by a numerous and influential connection, promised wordly honor und eucoese, to study at < xford for the church. Taking his degree in 1824, he elected to join that band which, defying all earthly difficulties, dreading neither the unhealthy climes of the tropics, nor the bitter cold of the polar regions, self sacrificing, self-devoted, has accepted and fulfilled the commands of its chief, St Paul, by passing over seas and oceans to uncivilised countries an>t unexplored lands, carrying the light of the Gospel to all parts of the worJd. Past experience has tnught the colonists of New Ze ilund that her natives were not, and are not, men for the timid to fuce. Long private and public intercourse has shown them to be the most astute of aborigines, not a people for the ignorant or iil-nurtured to qpnvert. if a surety, then, it should be granted that he, who 50 years ago, placed his iife in the hands of this race, was anything but a nervous or a timid man, and that he who, within a few years of hi* arrival, ha.) the intelligence and education to translate the New Testament from the original 6>eek into the Maori tongue was in intellectual canuoitj above the average of his fellow men. By many it has been said it had* been better had the native tongue never been given substance to by a written language. Those who hold that opinion, forget how impossible it is to teaoh or instruct some, through that medium which enables the teacher to oonrey and the pupil to understand and accept the required information. It is pretty certain, that without the missionary we should not have coloniwd this land in the comparatively peaceable manner we have, and that without the good understanding existing between the two races, we could not have made it the colony it is. lam aware that the disbeliever in the missionary, the sceptic in the. benefit of mfrsionary efforts, believes that civilisation should precede Christianity. Mr President, — let me ask this pseudo critic what did mere cirilisation do for intellectual Greece, for conquering Borne P What, coupled with Christianity— Christianity of 1800 yours standing— has it done for the nations of the present day getting aside scientific discoveries ? "As a rule, over a wide historic experience, civilisation may be said rather to have changed the development of vices, than to have des> troyed their vitality) and there is no doubt that the substitution of the vices of fraud for those of force, has been the effeot of oiviliea' tion." Bight or wrong, I am of 'hoee who beld that since the invention of writing 345 years ego, no pen hae done more for the benefit and instruction of the human race, than the pen of those whose untiring zeal und unwearying industry have increased the ' versions of the Bible to the large number of '■ 260. Generation after generation of men will perish, dynasties will rise aod fnlJ, nations will run their course, and all will be of the past, but the written word of. God will ever be of the present, for it is the beacon of and the guide to righteousness 1 which ie eternal ; it may elurabec, but will never die. All praise, therefore, to him who has dpne his work in making known this righteousness to others in the long trying years of his vocation, of tilling a soil which, from its very nature, was richer in the growth of tares than of wheat-. What sustained the labourer who is now stricken in health, enfeebled by years of men> tal and physical work in his Master's fields P What but that Faith which is reliance, that trußt which confided in hiß Redeemer ? Meat of us, if not all, need success to support our courage. So it is with the politician- and the placeman Vpl>o drays life and courage from the success of hia plans, whose strength is his adversaries' weakness, whose pride is to outwit in dobate. t Far otherwise is it with the missionary. He seldon finds his reward in the present. : He too often is doomed to see the most promising of his pupils-lapsa into error ; m>t Mini the i ight EriV. Bishop 1ibl«-I niH-iii ti> c.'i'p a .; <>< ;•< t)ij« respect, for whe ■< K«reop>i »>•,•» h.... U, ( uh»u,s I tha sauiderOißof Lbt»iiev. Mr Vylkimr, wirk<

ng upon the national feelings of the natives, persuaded large numbers from Poverty Bay to jo n him, y«b did the nalive clergy and mnny others, under severe trial?, stand firm tojthe Christian religion, thus proving the reality and sovereignty of their faith. Not until prePßUre was brought to bear,, did the Hishop of Waiapu leave Poverty Bay— not until those natives, lojal to their faith, felt convinced his stay would but bring about another edition of the Volkner tragedy ; even then, bis son, Archdeacon L. Williams, stepped as long ns there was- the faintest hope of' preventing bloodshed. I need not now touch upon what has taken place since 1867, when his Lordship came to reside in Napier, assured that his trials, his troubles, his in 1 firmities, in withdrawing him from the fellow^ 1 ship of the many has drawn him nearer to God-