ALL. SAINTS' CHURCH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1082, 1 April 1913, Page 3

ALL. SAINTS' CHURCH.

CONFIRMATION. The Bishop of W ol ■ a confirms io; s ’ Church on ' i»i f nineteen candi--aix-. -.vere and tvvo person received into the chnrch. The ceremony waa most impressive and especially the singing of the “Vent Creator,” before the sacramental act of confirming. The Bishop took his text from Hebrew XII., i and 2. The subject of his address was “shame,” bearing chiefly on the phase, “endured the cross, despising the shame.” He said the sense of shame was one of God’s gifts to man, it was a.help to conscience ; men often did not commit base sins for very shame, and sometimes shame spoke louder than the voice of conscience. He then went on to say that shame was not only a help but a temptation. He‘illustrated this point by the lives of the early Christians. Christianity was a criminal offence in those days and severely punished by the State. The Roman magistrates and judges were heathens, and sincerely looked upon the Christians as bad citizens —thus to be a Christian in those early days was a disgrace, and the very shame of it caused many to recant. It was hard for a Christian to be loyal and true to Jesus Christ when those around him looked at Aim as one in disgrace, a criminal in the eyes of the State, and thus, the very shame of being a Christian was a sore temptation to give it up and be like the rest of the world. Then the Bishop explained how that after a time shame became a help to the Christians, he mentioned the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. As he was being led away to be martyred the multitudes jeered and mocked him, but his fortitude appealed to the Christians among the crowd, who shouted to their saint hero words of encouragement, “play the man Polycarp, play the mao.” A man who could die so nobly tor Jesus Christ and suffer to be a disgrace, a criminal for Him was a criminal worth imitating. lira powerful oration the Bishop turned to Jesus Christ, He endured the cross despising the shame —and what a shame the cross was. In those days- it was a bigger disgrace than the gallows of our own day, the Romans would not suffer Roman citizens to die by crucifixion, some other form of capital punishment was reserved for them, for crucifixion - was for slaves, those who had no right of citizenship. Yet Jesus Christ endured the cross despising the awful shame of it just for us men and for our salvation. He told the • candidates that shame would be a temptation to them, their friends would scoff at them for being confirmed, for coming regularly to Holy Communion, and for attending the church services, and perhaps because ot these jeers, the shame of it, they too, might be tempted to be disloyal to Jesus. He appealed to them to look up to Jesus, to see iu Him the peerless example and to remember these words, if they forgot everything else, what he had told them, “Who endured the cross despising the shame.” The majesty and power of Christ would be their strength and when tiny thought of Him they would be loyal. The names of those confirmed are : —Adrian William Bangs, William George Entwistle, Joseph Hugh Entwistle, Harold Clarence Prosser, Douglas Robert Saxon Munro, Thomas George Oliver White, Walter Jane, Ernest Robert Vivian Wright, Arthur James Thompson, William Henry Robinson, Edith Annie Meyers, Beatrice Ellen Mary Morgan, Helen A men a Reeves, Sylvian Haslett, Irene Harriett Sarah Nye, Elsie Agnes King, Daphne Amelia Hodgson, Doris Evelyn Small, Helena Rose Hadfield. Received into the Church—Frederick Henry Meyers and Irene Vera Theresa Meyers.