ANGLICAN CHURCH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 353, 19 April 1911, Page 7

ANGLICAN CHURCH.

The; addilion to too Anglican Church in To Kuiti was opened for use on Easter Day. The building is very plain, as tho Vestry hope that a permanent church may tie erected in a few years, and tho present building will be the pari--':! nail a;ul Sunday school. But Mo«si'j llitchock and Trevarthen have don. 1 their work well, and the roof, lined throughout above the timbers of the roof, gives the interior a finish more like a church than a hall, and it is in keeping with the first building, which now gives room for a large choir. On Saturday, in spite of the rain a number of members of the congregation gathered to decorate the church for Easter., and very pretty it looked. At 8 a.m. at the Holy Communion, there were many present. At 11 a.m.. Mr Solomon was the layreader, but as usual much the larger congregation came at night. Mrs Stanton was organist, and a choir of over twenty led the congregation in the beautiful Easter music and hymns, in which the congregation joined heartily. The choir also sang the anthem "What are these." The Rev. E. S. Wayne took St. Luke xxiv., 34, for his text—"The Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon." He said there was to be no service of consecration, for the building was not to be set apart as a permanent church, but with the chancel and choir seats screened off would be used as a hall. If it had been built as a permanent church they should have thought of it as Jesus Christ did of the Ten.pie, "My Father's House, is the house of prayer," and set it apart for that purpose alone. Close to the door should be placed the font, to remind all of our Lord's charge to the Apostles about baptism and His words "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. And straight in front of that up the main passage or aisle, the Lords table, to remind worshippers of Christ's charge, "Do this in remembrance of Me," and that the Lord's own service is the most important and truest act of Christian worship. But though it was not a service of consecration, yet it was a service of special thanksgiving to God, and they were glad that others besides members of their jwii congregation were come to worship with them, for there were some great things that all Chrisitans can rejoice the Church of England stood for. First, that the Bible contains all truth necessary to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and because of this all her clergy take an oath to teach nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation but that which they are persuaded may be concluded and proved thereby. Also that she puts the Bible in the hands of all her people, because the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the New Testaj ment, not to write to the learned, but every believer in Jesus Christ. They knew that for over 100 years the reformation and compilation of the Prayer Book lasted and that the object of this reformation was to take the church back to the earliest and purest form of church government and worship known. How far they succeeded is clear, when one of the leaders of the Presbyterian Church wrote, only a ew years ago, that her services are the type of 'the most perfect Christian worship in England." For either acceptance or rejection, the tests were used: First, had it been held in the beginning—if so it was apostolic. If continuing in all times, Christ's promise "So I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" had guarded it. If in all the great branches of the Church, then it was for universal use. Thus the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, was continued, and this view the greatest modern Bible and historic critics uphold. Again it was the same with infant baptism, which all our Lord's teaching about infants seems to imply. They trusted and believe the Church of England would be the central power to unite the broken body of Christ's Church, and prayed that she would always be willing to give up everything that has not been from the beginning for the cause of union, but God forbid that she ever try to win union by giving up any pait of the i'ailh once delivered to the Saints. Returning to the text, he said there was no verße in the New Testament more expressive of our Lord's love. There was no sadder heart in all Jerusalem than that of Simon Peter, on that Easter morning, and two short verses tell of our Lords appearance to him, and all the sorrow of his fall was swallowed up in the joy that our Lord had appeared to him first of all among the disciples, and j

He went away and from His lips the Disciples heard and believed. There was oni> other our Lord revealed Himself to first, Mary of Magdala. She had gone to the tomb, with the one | object of paying a last act of service j to tho body of the Lord she had loved. I Even the message of the angels ! brought no comfort to her heart, and j to her dim faith Jesus' life and work ! was done, and yet our Lord revealed | Himself first to her. It is so now j with us; our Lord will ever reveal I Himself first to the one who is striv- ; in j; hardest to serve Him, or to the I heart that is saddest because of past <■ failure in service to Him. They i should pray of (iod that they may I ever ::'u'ivo to serve Him as Mary was ! striving to serve Him in the only way she knew how to honour Him i ■-■ strive to serve Him as St. Peter; did with a steadfast purpose to build j up His Kingdom upon earth, until ! the time that earthly service i-i no I mote, and they were called to serve j Him for ever on the day of resur- j rcetion to eternal life. The service i closed with the Te Deum. At the j

end of Use service, the amount of the. collections for the day was announced -■- nearly ,i:i7. Though ihi;) is much less than was expected, yet many of the usual congregation were away tor the holidays, and when their offer my:; are sen-, in the amount will be considerably augmented. The church when fully seated will accommodate, about 2(H) adults.- -Contributed.