ANGLICAN CHURCH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5495, 1 November 1929, Page 2

ANGLICAN CHURCH.

CONFIRMATION CEREMONY.

BISHOP CHERRINGTON’S VISIT.

On Wednesday evening last in front of a full congregation the Lord Bishop of the Waikato Diocese, the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to a number of candidates presented by the vicar, the Rev. W. Weadon. The Rev. W. Lea, curate of Rotorua, assisted as chaplain. Addressing the candidates, His Lordship stressed upon the mighty import of the vows they were about to take. He said they were now about to complete the vows taken on their behalf by their godparents at their baptism. They would then enter fully into the Church. Striking a simile, the Bishop compared the two acts with a stamped receipt. A receipt for an amount oyer £2 had to have a stamp placed thereon. In baptism the person was stamped with the Holy Cross on his brow. On the stamp was written one’s signature or initials. Confirmation was the putting of the signature to the mark of the Holy Cross placed on the brow. In that manner approval was given of what the godparents had done.

After the confirmation of the candidates the Bishop delivered his second address, to the congregation at large.

The farmer in New Zealand worked like anything, said His Lordship. They did work in this country, as everyone knew, but the farmer depended on Almighty God. God wanted to help everyone, but unless His conditions were fulfilled aid would not be forthcoming. God would not force. God respected individual freedom, even if that freedom turned out in wickedness. It was not God’s way to interfere with people, unless, perhaps, when necessary sometimes. One had to get the seeds in, the weeds clear, and then God would bless the result with sunshine and rain. Unless man did his part God could not do His. He would not, and could not. He could not make things go unless we helped. He had His own code of rules and could not break them. A gift of God was the rules of God. The act of confirmation made one a complete and full member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Before that act a person was only half initiated. Confirmation gave one the supreme experience of the Church. One who had been confirmed could receive the Blessed Sacrament and Holy Communion. His Lordship appealed to the congregation to remember the three things important in the Eucharist. The first two were usually agreed to by most church people, but they were all in great danger of losing the third. Not only those assembled and of the present generation, but many, many others. The third, the Eucharist, was the earthly sacrifice to prepare for the heavenly sacrifice. Here the 'speaker quoted the following verses from hymn 322 as bearing on his subject

“And now, 0 Father, mindful of the love That brought us, once for all, on Calvary’s Tree, And having with us Him that pleads above, We here present, we here spread forth to Thee That only offering perfect in Thine eyes, The one true, pure, immortal sacrifice.

Look, Father, look on His anointed face, And only on us as found in Him ; Look not on our misusings of Thy grace, Our prayer so languid, and our faith so dim ; For lo ; between our sins and their reward We set the passion of Thy Son our Lord.” The Bishop enjoined upon his listeners to learn the two verses and always afterwards remember them. The first thing of all was the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ. As a sacrament it was the very life and strength of Jesus Christ, without which it was not possible to live. The third needed careful thought, for many years there had been great danger of losing it. He was afraid it had not been brought out nearly clearly enough in the Anglican prayerbook, or in any other. A great mistake was made in not stressing it. How did the Lord constitute this solemn meal ? By a loaf passed round, and a cup passed round to all. What was the essence of Christ’s relationship ? What had people to do ? What was the kernel, what was the heart ? There was the absence of central truth, there was the absence of the name of the object of their relationship. There was a move now to further Christ’s teachings in and out of season, telling now of Christian ethics and Christian behaviour. The Eucharist expressed the right behaviour that should be in Christianity.

In kneeling to receive the Blessed Sacrament it should be remembered that the same bread and the same cup were being partaken of. Prayers should centre on His prayer. One great family at God’s table of God’s house. This spirit should ensure a closer affection for one another. If affection was close enough people would not want to bite each other as they did at present. They would never be united unless they were united in. spirit. He was satisfied that in the lives of God’s brethren they did not make nearly enough of Christian ethics. There should be more honesty, more kindness, more unselfishness, better workmen, better masters, better husbands, better wives, better brothers and sisters. There should not be any difference in Christian people. They had an example in the lives of splendid behaviour of people embracing no Church. Was it that they had left aside righteousness and were making too much of detail, too much of externals and extras ? Was it too much going to church instead of “help, give, serve, and sympathy ?”

In taking of the Sacrament, said the Bishop, it was not, of course, the real satisfaction of ordinary hunger : they were receiving of the blood and spirit of the Lord. But if people stopped there they would lose half of the sacrifice. It could and should make all receiving it resolve, because they had received of Jesus Christ, to make better friends of one another, a combination for better ethics. The vow in confirmation was most holy. Because of it they should be better in the home, at work, among friends, and act more like Christians. They should build up friendship among themselves, remember one another. The Church should not be shown as a cold place, but one of warm, cheery greetings. The early days were marked by the warm company of the apostles. Why could they of the present day not exude the same feeling ? In 150 A.D. the bread and ■wine was taken by deacons to the sick who could not attend the service ; they must not be left out, no one must be left out; though absent in the flesh they could be present in the spirit. It was a beautiful custom ; why was it dropped ? Perhaps because communities were too large ; perhaps because men’s hearts had grown cold. Those days were of affection and real love.

In conclusion His Lordship exhorted all to be most reverent, and cultivate the spirit of friendship.