SUNDAY SERVICES.

Evening Star, Issue 3042, 18 November 1872, Page 2

SUNDAY SERVICES.

st. paul’.s church. .Special services were held in St, Paul’s Church yesterday, in recognition of the return from England of flip Bishop of the Diocese with the clergypae.n who have accompanied him, The .communion table and pulpit were ornamented with dowers and and evergreens, and . above the table jn illuminated letters was the text fromPs, 107, v. 3—‘’He bringeth them to the haven where they would be.” On the Bishop and clergy entering the Church at morning service, the choir chaunted the 122 nd Psalm. The Rev. E, G. Edwards read the prayers, and the Rev. T. Smith the lessons for th,e Jay, Thu Psalms were chaunted by the choir, and in the course of the service the very appropriate anthem V How loyoly are the Messengers,” was sung. The Bishop of Dunedin preached the sermon, taking for his text, 1 Corinthians, ch. 3, v. 11—‘‘For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” His Lordship expressed his thankfulness for his safe arrival, and called attention to the fact that the last time he was in the church, prayerhad been made that he might perfonn Iris voyages home and back again in safety, and that success might attend his visit ; and in his safe arrival 'with his companions, he recognised an answer to those prayers. He therefore invited the congregation to join him in returning thanks" for the mercies accorded to them. But other feelings than those of thankfulness should have piano jp the minds of the Church: there sh.qulql be a sense of obligation in regard to the future. Tlj§ should bo accompanied Ivy earnest prayer that those needs should be supplied that would most assuredly shortly come upon the Church, The real commeneem.nt of his work, and that of those who had come with him, had begun, and he felt the responsibility that lay upon him in regard to that section of tne Church of which God had made him overseer, He, therefore, asked the Church’s prayers that they might n-oeive that spiritual help which was required by them. The text seemed to him to be very appropriate to the occasion. He did not put it before his bearers so much a subject for doctrinal teaching as a principle to guide them in the future. It pointed to the foundation on which to build, and he trusted on that principle their future labors would be carried out. On that foundation, he trusted, the future spiritual temple of God’s Church would be erected in ->■ cw Zealand, It was evident from the context that even in the early days of the Church at Corinth, even in the purity and knowledge of its first love, there were divisions of opinion—dicostacians—one saying, *• L am of Paul ; another, I am of Apollos ; another, I am of Christ.” And there were schisms in the Church now which were not characteristic of Christianity, hut of those who had been cast forth from communion with God. It might setm that tho principle laid down by the Apostle as curative of the evil was not sufficient for the work of

healing those divisions; but it was the true remedy, and in taking up his (the ( Bishop’s) permanent abode here, his object was to bring the Church back to the true foundation on which to build—Christ Jesus. This must be off. cted if the Church was to bo a united one. He could not forget that there had been laborers who had preceded him who had worked successfully. The presence of so large a congregation in that building was proof of that. But while remembering past labors, the more extended work of the future must be recognised. That the members of the Church rejoice iu the completion of its organisation was evident from the cheerful and kindly manner iu which himsel and his companions had bean welcomed since his arrival. He felt, therefore, a special responsibility ; but he trusted too much would not be expected, for ministers were but men His anxiety was that in the extension of the building—the Church—the foundation should be laid on Christ Jesus. He would remind the members of the Church that he looked for their co-operation and assistance to bear the burden laid upon him. If that were given, good work would be done. Especially he ask. d that they should extend their charity, using that word not only in its lowest sense of contributing of their material wealth, to aid in bringing up the back work required, but in its higher signification of Christian love. He desired this, that the work might not be hindered by divisions nor by scrutinising too closely other men’s labors. Some vho indulged iu that by that means satisfied their consciences. The true course was to look more within, and to work more trustfully and faithfully. In that way they would work as wise builders, not laying a foundation stone on shifting sands—not on human prejudices nor human passions, but on Christ as a cornerstone and a sure foundation. The afternoon was especially for children, who were addressed by the Rev. T. Smith. In the evening the Hev. T. G. Penny preached from 1 Cor., xiv, v, 26, The offertory was devoted to the support of the Sunday school in connection with St. Paul’s Church. FIRST CHURCH. The Rev. Leslie Mackie, the first of the clergymen who are to be brought from Australia to preach at this church while the charge is vacant, preached yesterday morning and evening, to large congregations. The text of the forenoon sermon was from Ist Corinthians, ch. 13, v. 13—“ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three : but the greatest of these is charity, ST .(OiSEi'll’is, Bishop Morau, who is about to proceed to Wellington for six months to take charge of the Wellington See, preached at St, Joseph’s last evening, and referred in the course of his sermon to the persecution of the Jesuits in Germany—men who had been deprived of the rights of citizenship, had had their private property confiscated, and been conducted by force out of their native land. But the Kingdom of God would, as it bad in times gone by, be avenged for the injury jpttefppted ttf be done it. He read an extract from an Italian ppwspapep of 1§64, in which the [writer foretplfl the overthrow of the dynasty of Napoleon the Third for his abandonment of Rome and the Holy Father. He complained bitterly of the calumnies and falsehoods circulated by the English and German press against the Catholic Church »i d those belonging to it ; some of which he said covered their audacity apd shamelessness to such an extent that they now no lopgep conshlered it necessary to make statements jiavipg the smallest foundation in fact, but 1 unclud forth paragraphs which were positive falsehoods. This was the vilest kind of persecution, because the effectyet was to poison literature, the fountain of history. , lu support of his assertion he read paragraphs from a German newspaper relative to Cardinal toward, and from the Pall Mall Gazette relating to the I Bishop of Geneva, which he characterised as gross calumnies. Then the so called speech of Bishop Strossmayer at the (Ecumenical Council—a speech that had been contradicted by that Bisbop himself—had been widely published jn tjiis Colony, but no siagle paper in it ha i printed the contradiction, Tfce Jesuits were being’ persecuted in Germany not because they were enemies of the State, but because they were more able, more learned, and more valiant de endere of the truth than the enemies of the Church—be* cause they were men of astounding ability, extensive learning, and indomitable courage, He concluded by making an earnest appeal to his congiogation to support a paper devoted to Catholic interests, and the aim of which would be to refute the calumnies being hurled at tbf* Gatholio Church.