BISHOP WALLIS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1098, 10 April 1911, Page 6

BISHOP WALLIS.

PARTING WORDS AT ST. PAUL'S,

The Anglican Bishop of Wellington (Dr. Wallis) was tho preacher at St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral yesterday morning. He took as his text John XVI, 33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Mβ ye might have peace. In tho world ye shall have tribulation, but bo of good cheer;,l have overcome the world." The forecast cf the coming of Christ, said the Bishop, was full of words of peace, and peace occupied a large place iu the retrospect; but Christ Himself seldom spoke of peace. "Think you I come to bring peace on tho earth," he said; "nay, rather a sword." He seemed to fear lest the real meaning of the word should be mistaken. The peace which tho world gavo was very different from tho peace of God, which passeth all understanding. The world's peace was too often mere lethargy or indifference, but the peace of God could be experienced by men who were really men and not corpses, men with the capacity to work and fight. This peace came in the midst of' fighting and work. "In the world," Christ says,

"ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." Peace came in the _ union of all our faculties in the service of God. Though the nations of the world wero armed to thi) teeth, and though there was unrest and difficulty in the political world—if not here, yet in other countries—yet in the midst of battle within and without God gave peace to those who were doing His will. When he (tho Bishop) looked back over tho 1G or 17 years he had been in New Zealand, and thought of the things he had hoped to do, he found that in some things he had succeeded, but in many he had failed. Besides the building of more churches, he had hoped to see built a large [ilaco of assemblage for the poor. They had a cathedral site for what he had hoped would bo a poor man's church, but tho cathedral remained unbuilt; and they were no nearer tho accomplishment of his desire for religious teaching in tho State schools. However, in spite of failure and disappointment, they could struggle on if Christ was with them, for Ho had overcome the world. In conclusion, the Bishop said: "My parting wish for yon is that the God of all hope may fill you with joy and peace in believing through the power of tho Holy Ghost."