All Saints' Social.

Manawatu Herald, 19 January 1899, Page 2

All Saints' Social.

i ♦ i The social arranged to welcome th« > Rev. Mr Leach to the parish took place i last night in the school-room at the i rear of the Church. The ladies of the congregation had 1 gone to some trouble in making the room look pretty and comfortable»-JUjjd: a most excellent supper was also' M^ vlded by them. ~ It is very much to be regretted that more were not present. The Mayor (Mr A. Fraser), welcomed the Rev. Mr Leach to the district in it very suitable manner. In reply to Mr Fraser's words of t welcome, the Vicar replied in an- 4, earnest and eloquent speech, and said I how glad he was to meet with all the ; members of this part jof his parish. Since his arrival here he had travelled a very considerable distance, in fact, i he had covered more ground during ; the last fortnight than- any ordinary fortnight in his life. He was p» JL&; ; to belong to a church which stretcled its roots back right through th« centuries, even almost to the first i century, and as church-folk they had : reason to be proud of the work done by their church, which was undoubtedly the greatest institution in the Empire. I Tlie church had always witnessed for, Christ, and although sometimes dartf , ness had eclipsed the light for a time, > it had shone again with greater brillt- : ancy. He would like to point out that a great wave 'of enthusiasm was taking hold of the Church in England, and : University men who had all the promise ' of life before them, men of education and i culture were giving up all their life to ■ the work of preaching and teaching the very poorest and lowest of the people. In the slums of London, s Portsmouth, Birmingham and Bradford i (his native town), were to be found : men of the highest education who ■ were giving their life to working , for Christ and His Church. Let them i remember they were part of this great i whole, and there was nothing more i contagious than enthusiasm. If they could only get infected with some of i this spirit Foxton would feel their i power and their church would weld a greater influence than it did to-day, i He would ask them specially to help : him by their prayers and by their ■ attendance at the services of God's , Houses, even if they did not care for s religion for themselves,- they should attend church for the sake of their children, as they had a large i responsibility in connection with their families and should at least set them a consistent example by regular attend' > ance upon divine worship. Let all who had been indifferent in this matter rouse themselves and let their plans be filled, and' those who had been regular in their attendance put more earnestness into their praying, more heart into their praise, and let them thus bo ' united, Priest and People, and then , union would mean strength. If thewj, worked singly they could not accomplish '';' much, but by pulling together all of them, in twenty years' time they would have something to show for their work and the people would bless them for it. The following items were well rendered during the evening : — Opening Carol "Noel" was given by the children, who were trained by Mrs EijiS|land ; Song" Surely," Mrs Barber; ScKmfi " Eternal Rest," Mrs Woollass ; Soilr "Cleansing Fires," Miss Ray; Carol " Good news from Judea ;" Reading " The Revenge " (Lord Tennyson), the Rev. W. Leach. The accom- , panists were Mrs W. Cook and Mr England.