NEW BISHOP.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXX, Issue 11132, 15 February 1930, Page 10

NEW BISHOP.

SERMON AT INSTALLATION

SKJiVJCK. PRESENCE OF THE LOKO. “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah i 14 vas the text upon which the new Bishop of Waiapu, the Rt. Rev. H. V\'. Williams based his servee m St. John s Cathedral, Napier, on Sunday evening ' "li we study the books of the Hebrew prophets we shall notice in the ease ot many of tuoir most stinting utterances that their inspiration consisted not so much in the production of a new thought or phrase as in giving a higher and spiritual application to one which was already familiar to their hearers. "Isaiah's choice of the -Messianicname Immanuel. God with us. :.s a

ease in point. The idea oi God being with them was no new one to the Jews. Thev regarded themselves

as a nation enjoying the special favour of -Jehovah; they were accustomed to the claim of their prophets that their message was one received personally direct from God: they were prepared to recognise special manifestations of God when He came to guide, to teach, to punish, to protect: and more, than that, tJmy were familiar with the notion of God vouchsafing the privilege of His presence. His friendship we may call it. to the individual and to the nation. The psalms contain numerous expressions implying this, and in the sober prose of the historical hooks we find the most explicit reference-' to this belief. We are told that Enoch ‘walked with God.’ and the same is said of Noah, while details are given of the life of Abraham. which justify his title as ‘the friend of God.' It was the presence of thi> Lord which preserved Israel in the dangers of the wilderness, and it. was to this presence that Caleb and Joshua appealed against the faithless pessimism of tiie remaining spies. These are some of the instances we find. Tlie thought was a common-place to the Hebrew mind, hut it had doubtless lost much of its force through familiarity and conventionality, till it became necessary for Isaiah to remind the Jews that this belief was something more than a mere phase of primitive religion. that it was, on the contrary, one of the very foundation stones upon wlm-li their hope of the Afessiali was based. “This reference to the Alessiah brings us to the New Testament. St. John recalls our Saviour's discourses in which He cheers .His disciples with the assurance. ‘I will not leave you comfortless; I will come unto you.' and elucidates this statement bv the promise that we shall realise Mis presence through Hint of the Comforter, ‘who "ill "hide with us forever.'

“This previous bequest of His constant presence was not intended solely for the- Apostles—it is for all of us to-day. clergy and laity alike—for you and me—here and now and alwa vs.

•‘But if if is really for us. it is surely only reasonable for us *o endeavour to understand something of what it means for us. First we must hear in mind that this companionship, this friendship, is not of our own devising, the idea, was God's, not ours. It is a ease of ‘God with us' rather than of ‘us with God.’ Ho has made the first overtures. Ho offers Himself frankly as companion and friend. He does not force Himself upon us, hut. incredible as it may seem. He desires our friendship and love, if we will give it to Hun. It is for us to accept or reject the offered relationship as we will.

“Unfortunately' there are many who have no wish to accept the offer. Vaguely they fancy that to have God as a friend would introduce a dull, drab solemnity into their lives; and they rightly recognise that it would make impossible many habits which are idle, frivolous—or worse. There can be little doubt that it is this which keeps many people from the outward profession of religion implied in coming to church—there they reminded —imperfectly enough— of the presence of God, They do not wish to ho reminded. It would be a rebuke to much in their daily lives. “But those, who would accept find difficulties in the way- of full realisation of this Presence. These clifficulties are due in part, to the limitations of our life in the flesh. Some* people find, or-think they find, it

easier to conceive of enjoying presence of God when they shall i. escaped iruiii the trammels ol body.

“It must not D- overlooked that God’s presence with us is a fact oerfi independent of the question whether we have apprehended it or not. Tl.*<» Psalmist, indeed, points out that v.c cannot escape from it. The Prese is with us here, but we may not eeive it. Some are deliberately third, but even the best among us tail to > often to have a clear perception of God's continual nearness: and tin--failure, ranging from occasional lapses to complete obhviousesq. <>'■* of the most serious ills from which the nation is at present suffering. “Hut this sense of God’s pre-w/e

is not a chance experience which comes upon ns haphazard, nor it something that we clutch as and may 1 1 y good fortune grasp. It i> a iacuity which can be and must oe <r\ - rivaled by patient training. The .‘unit can be acquired and must be maintained by practice. And here we meet the same difficulty "•vjncn r;*U troubled the -Jews m the days f Hezekiah. Tlie familiarity or rout.’a may led to a conventionalising ■ ' the means adopted and rob them much of their worth. The devout aspiration 'God with you' Itas l;<y careless use become atrophied into aw familiar term 'Good-bye.' a mere foi'inuhi of dismissal, wholely k;cs:n_. alas, any suggestion of God s i,-rv-tec-ting presence. "The aversion of such unreality makes many people avoid the n- •' phrases which seem to have becea-e conventional: and I know well-mean-ing people wlio have on thm groin*: gone so far as to discontinue tiw use of grace before meals. But surely the remedy for the waning meaning of words and phrases such these is not their abandonment, u: tlie determination that by coneffort they shall not. for u< at least, become empty conventions, the determination, ni other words, to develop in ourselves the practice of the Tosence of God. "With this in view it is rao't important that we should not fad take our part in tlie regular servuv of tlie Church, particularly in : : one which Christ Himself has instituted \mong the changes which will result our aims will become clearer, our decisions more sound, our judgment of our fellow men jr.oiv charitable, our grasp of spiritual truths more firm, our prayer' m”iv natural, our lives brighter ami happier. our sense of security porioi. It God is with us we are bound m prosper—only wo must make a revaluation of prosperity, for it b'“' not consist in the things by wiikh the world sets store—money, p '- firm, power; true prosperity mm: he estimated by spiritual values. ‘‘All this is of tlie highest- imperial ice to the individual, and it is the individual we have been considering, but when the Presence of God tide" iis place in the consciousness ei ire community its effects will be nothing short, of stupendous. Social and economic difficulties will vanish : the problems of religious education, of impurity and intemperance, of slum areas, strikes and unemployment will lie solved. Individual strife will cease, corruption in commerce and politics will disappear, international relations will so improve that the quest ons of armaments, of taritH and of hostile propaganda, will cause no further trouble: tlie League of Nations will become a bond of fellowship. ‘ s

“But it is not for the benefitWhich will accrue* that we should pursue the Practice of the Presence of God. Our main incentive should spring, from the fact that it is God s wish. I said just now that when we have entered into this relationship with God our prayers will become more natural. They will no longer ho mere requests addressed to the Almighty Ruler of the Universe for benefits bodily or spiritual for our solves and our friends; but they* will become familiar intercourse of friend with friend, hearing and being heard.

“Wo shall share with God as our most intimate friend, and ever at hand, our joys and sorrows, our hopes and fears. This does not, of course, mean that we shall never have a request to make—from whom should we ask if not from our.dearest friend?—and I can think of no higher object for our personal endeavours and our prayers than the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Let us then pray that the practice of the Presence of God may spread throughout the world till ‘the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the. waters cover the sea.’ ”