PRIMATE ENTHRONED

Hokitika Guardian, 21 January 1929, Page 7

PRIMATE ENTHRONED

DB. LANG’S PLEA TO CROWD. LONDON, December 0. Clear in the cold morning air a trumpet shouts to the misty heavens and the great west door of Canterbury Cathedral swings wide. 'The close-gat-hered thousands of the humble and the highly placed rise from their seats and turn their faces expectantly. A pillar of calm dignity, Primate of All England, the Most Rev. Cosmo Gordon Lang, comes amid a stately procession to his enthronement. He comes into the presence of a veritable “cloud of witnesses.” Within the softly illuminated choir is the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, gold on his flowing black robe, his face dim in the shadow of his wide w-ig. Near him are Archbishop Designate of York, Dr Temple, Ministers of the Crown, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Kynaston Studd, in the splendour of his ermi'iis and scarlet, the High Commissioners of the Dominions, ami the Masters of London’s City Companies. BEARDED PATRIARCHS. In the midst of bearded Russian patriarchs in robes of cream and gold, and bishops und dignitaries from many foreign lands, sit Air John Masefield, the peot, Dr. R. Vaughan Williams, who has written special music for today, and many another whose name is equally familiar. In the presbytery, a great company of Nonconformist leaders and clergy is .loaemoietl. In the nave more than 2,000 people rise with a sound like that of a murmuring sea. From their lofty place above the lovely rood screen the red and white garbed choristers begin to pour down the music of their voices. The procession Hows towards the snerarium. Last of all, his great scarlet rolie upheld by two small pages in scarlet and white, the Archbishop himself moves like one who is busy with his innermost thoughts. Now he is at the High Altar. A moment passes, and the Archbishop stands before his canopied stone throne. The mandate of the Royal Commissiones for the enthronement is read and the Archbishop prays that he may bo “inducted, installed, and enthroned,” and swears that lie will protect the rights and liberties of the Church. The archdeacon, the "Veil. E. H. Hardcastle, conducts him to the Archiepiseopal throne and seats him on it, thus admitting him into the archbishopric “with all its rights, dignities, honours, privileges, and appurtenances whatsoever.” Once again the choristers raise their voices, singing, “0 Lord give Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts.” Follows now, “as a. sign of real possession,” the seating of the Archbishop in the dean’s stall, whence descending to the floor of the choir he sinks to his knees and prays silently and alone. Presently he rises, and the final enthronement takes place in the marble chair used by St. Augustine when 1,331 years ago, he became the first Archbishop of 'Canterbury. The triumphant music of the TeDeum uprises and the choir sings, “We piaise thee, 0 God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord! . .” As the echo of the last note dies away the trumpet sounds again. Yet more moving is the spectacle which now is staged. Having blessed the witnesses in the choir, the Archbishop, his golden Primatial Cross borne before him, passes again to the nave and blesses the people there. BLESSING THE CHILDREN. Still unaccompanied, except by bis chaplain and his pages, lie goes out at the west door of the .cathedral to bless a great crowd of people awaiting outside and to bless also the city of Canterbury and the whole eouiaiy. There he stands aloft on a. little red plush-cove fed improvised pulpit, speaking to the men and women and children crowding before him with a voice so charged with emotion that it falters a little. He asks them to remember that, although he has hut now been enthroned as Primate of All England, he is but a man, prone to the same temptations as beset other men and as much in need of prayer as they. “I speak to you as your brother,” ho says, and lie speaks to them also as their “Father in God,” Slowly lie raises his hand, and while every bead is bared and bowed, lie pronounces the blessing. Deeply affecting too, is the scene when, having mounted to his pulpit in the cathedral to preach his first sermon as Primate, the Archbishop, hands and voice slinking with the stress of bis feeling, speaks of “that sick-bed in London whereon our beloved King lies.”