ALL SAINTS SOCIAL TO ARCHDEACON HARPER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 501, 30 October 1909, Page 3

ALL SAINTS SOCIAL TO ARCHDEACON HARPER.

A very enjoyable evening was spent on Thursday night last, on the occasion of the first visit to Foxton of Archdeacon Harper, since his new appointment. The Masonic Hall was fairly well filled, the majority of those present being membes or adherents of All Saints Church. The vicar of the parish, Rev. G. Young-Wood ward, occupied the chair and in a few wellchosen words intimated to his hearers the object of the gathering, viz., to welcome the Archdeacon. An excellent musical programme was provided, including the following items: Song, Mr A. Jenks; vocal duet, Mrs Clemett and Miss Jenks ; song, Miss Barber ; song, Mr Cook ; quartette, Messrs Betty, Wrigley, Jenks and Cook ; song, Miss Tatton ; song, Mr Fowler; song, Mrs Tiviotdale. The vicar, in his usual able and efficient manner, briefly introduced the guest of the evening. He stated that he had beeu the Archdeacon’s curate for tour years aud from him he had learned his colonial experience. He had come to him straight from England, with only an English training, and now he bad another training which would help him all through his life. The vicar then Went on to say that as a parish they had much to be thankful for, but there were still many excellent people whose religion did not show the outward and visible sign of public worship, but he shared with his brother clergy, a

glorious optimism and hoped some day to see the outward aud visible “■ signs in the parish Church. The Chairman ended his remarks by expressing the hope that the Archdeacon’s visit would be a new start of religious fervour, and that next Sunday, the Patronal Festival, would be the day on which the new beginning would be made. The vicar then called upon the Archdeacon, a pleasing speaker, who interested the audience in a masterly address on Church matters. He began by referring to his pleasant relations with the vicar, who, on his arrival from England seven years ago, had come to him as assistant-curate. He eulogised the many sterling qualities characteristic of the vicar of this parish, and congratulated the people on their good fortune in having secured such an excellent clergyman. The speaker intimated to his audience that the Rev. G. Y. Woodward and himself were not present on this auspicious occasion to say nice things about each other (laughter), but he had good cause to feel very proud of his erstwhile curate. The Archdeacon then went on to explain the universality

of the Church—how that the

parish of All Saints was only a fragment of the Church, how that / it was a pari of the Diocese, the Diocese was a part of the Church of the Province of New Zealand, and how again the Church in New Zealand was but a part of the great Catholic Church all over the world. The speaker pointed out that each fragment—each parish—went to make up the great whole, and that its influence was illimitable. He stated that some people thought the Church existed in order to get a collection; it was repeatedly read in newspapers that such and such a service was most successful and that the collection was excellent. He illustrated the spirit: * ‘Two men were floating on a raft aud one*of them said, ‘Cad you pray, Bill ?’ ‘No,’ answered Bill, T can’t do that.’ ‘Well, can you sing a hymn ?’ ‘No,’ came the answer, T never learnt one.’ ‘Well,’ said the other, %et’s have a collection !' ” The Church was a spiritual body, not a financial body—it existed for the souls of men —yet the Church must be supported by the people, but their support should be the outcome of the spiritual life. He then went on to speak about the Beach —he had visited the “breezy beach” during the afternoon, and could see that there was a philantropic work for the people of Foxton to undertake. Many strangers visited the Beach during the holiday season, and it was too far for them to come up to town for services. It was the duty of the people of Foxton to build a parish room where services could be held —this would be a means of spreading Christ’s Kingdom. Perhaps there

would be no return, or very little, for the outlay, but that was nothJ ing in comparison to the good such a room would do —it would be another landmark of the gospel. The Archdeacon hoped that the people would make an effort, and he was sure the response would come. In conclusion he spoke of the coming general mission to New Zealand, explaining that chosen men from the Mother Church were coming out to teach us something, and to learn something from us—it was the exchange of religious ideas and the means of linking us with the Great Church outside the Dominion. The speaker then pt made an earnest appeal for willing helpers—prayer was the great factor of the religious life. The clergyman was not the Church — the Church consisted of both the ministry and laity. A parish priest needed the effort of his people, and together they could accomplish anything. Mr W. S. Stewart, then rose to thank the Archdeacon, and in a most pleasing and happy manner took the latter's .hand and congratulated him on behalf of the parish on his election. He said , that 30 years ago he intimately /knew the Archdeacon’s uncle —the Venerable Archdeacon of Timaru, a man who was one of the finest examples of a Christian gentleman, and he opined that if ihe present Archdeacon turned out half as well as his uncle, he would be a credit to the Diocese. He congratulated the parish on having

such a capable man as Archdeacon —a man whose words and fame had already reached even the little town of Foxton. Mr Stewart (vicar’s warden) then went on to say that as church warden he was glad to be able to inform those present that there was no debt on the parish, but much more might be done if the people were more generous. Out of 250 families only about 50 gave a yearly subscription to the Church ; the other 200 gave nothing to the upkeep of the parish; he hoped this visit of the Archdeacon’s would be the means of a little more generosity. __ He apologised for the absence of his brother warden, Mr A. S. Easton, who was indisposed, and com eluded his remarks by again thanking the Archdeacon for his visit.

Mr F. W. Fraukland, at the Rev. Mr Woodward’s request, then addressed further words of welcome to Archdeacon Harper, confining his remarks more especially to the work of the ladies in church and parish. He said his past experience as a vestryman had convinced him that it was chiefly owing to the splendid work of the ladies at guild and garden party and bazaar that All Saints’ Church had emerged from its financial slough and occupied its present position of solvency, alluded to by his friend, Mr Washington Stewart. Although the speaker’s ignorance of textile fabrics incapacitated him from dwelling on the details of the ladies’ achievements, he was keenly appreciative of the general principle involved. That principle was the well-known fact that, when it came to selfdenying aud self-sacrificing work, there was much more for which we had to thank the female sex than the male. He was satisfied that this applied not only to Church work, but also to life in the world as a whole. Few things had impressed him more in his 55 years of life than the thought what a much better place this world would be if the average man did his duty as well as the average woman did hers. Mr Fraukland then quoted a recent utterance of Bishop Julius to the effect that the Church in these days fails to get hold of the male sex, but dissented from the Right Rev. gentleman’s view that it was proper to have men only on the vestries. He said the phenomenon which so rightly alarmed Bishop Julius and plenty of other people, viz., the comparative neglect of religion by the male sex, was partly a thing of all time, having shown itself more or less through all the Christian centuries, from the time when there were many women at Golgotha, “beholding afar off,” while the male disciples (with possible exceptions) “all forsook Him aud fled” (Maik xiv, 50). So lar as the greater average devoutress of women was thus a general phenomenon, Mr Fraukland attributed it to Darwinian Natural Selection which ensured the rapid disappearance of all mammalian species where the females were not kind aud self-denying towards their helpless offspring. This kindness or altruism was the quintessence of true religion (Matthew vii, 12) and even akin to the Essential Nature of Deity (1 John iv, 8-16). So far as the relative undevoutness of the male sex was a phenomenon specially accentuated at the present day, Mr Fraukland felt confident it was due to the wave of temporary unbelief caused by a superficial but widespread misunderstanding of some theses implicit in the Darwinian teaching. It would, as the speaker once told the Rev. Mr Davys, of Wellington, take time for the “man in the street ” to realise that the highest contemporary thought had lately turned a corner, and that our greatest thinkers, as a result of splendid expert work in New Testament history aud also of bolder investigation into the relation of matter to mind and of God to the world, were now coming round to a broad-minded but satisfying faith in the Incarnation and the Resurrection (as a fact in the spiritual world) of our Lord Jesus Christ. Women, being by their very nature on an average in more direct communion with the Divine, were less at the mercy than men were, of those gusts ot unbelief, and we owed our womenkind an enormous debt of gratitude for their conservative clinging to the Good Tradition through this transitory period of unrest. That being so, did it not raise the question, whether their present status in the Church gave women as much power as their immense usefulness entitled them to ? He himself, so far as the Woman Question was concerned, was a radical and a revolutionist of the most extreme type, but he did not wish to inflict on his hearers any lengthy remarks on so acutely controversial a theme. Suffice it to say that he hoped the 20th century, before it ran out, would prove itself to have been the “women’s century,” and he looked forward to it as a step toward something higher and better than anything mankind had ever had before. The blessed results he expected from it could only be achieved if new responsibilities, hitherto almost ignored by Church and world alike, were rivetted on the male sex; and he was delighted that the recent PanAnglican Congress had emphasised a conservative attitude on the most central feature of this grave problem., namely, our Lord’s stern denunciation in the gospel of everything that permitted irresponsibility or levity in the domestic relation,, By this stern denunciation Christ had proved Himself the best friend woman ever had, and this problem of the sexes was the most important in the world, next only to our direct relation with God.

At the close of the evening the

All Saints’ Ladies Guild generously provided an excellent supper, which was much appreciated by all present.