BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7, 13 May 1913, Page 6

BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

VISITS STRATFORD. The Right Rev. Bishop Lloyd Crossley, of Auckland, arrived in Stratford by motor car from Inglewood yesterday evening, and is at present the guest of the Vicar of Stratford, the Rev. W. A. Butler. The Bishop preached at the Whitsuntide service in tho Parish Church in the evening. There was a moderately, largo congre-j gat lon, considering tho exceptionally i bad*Weather conditions. *Tho Bishop, who took as his text the words from Acts 11. 47: “And the Lord added to tho Church daily,” mentioned tho day as being the anniversary of tho birthday of tho Church, and recounted the history of the event, telling how a number of men, terrified by the Crucifixion, were, by the Spirit of God, cmbued with the courage to preach Christianity, His Lordship then compared this spirit of courage with tho lack of it at the present day. Those who held with tho Church were silent because they feared tho ridicule of their associates. This backwardness be attributed to their failure to grasp tho real conception of prayer. Ho emphasised tho difference between “saying one’s prayers” and “praying,” and the necessity .of having tho true and inward spirit Of (faith—“ The apostle prayed unceasingly,” and everything was possible .with prayer. The | Bishop, at the conclusion of his sermon, exhorted the congregation to join with him in offering up a prayer for “tho largest nation on earth”— China. This people, he said, who had persecuted and tortured Christians, i)ow asked for tho prayers of Christians. In connection with’ this evidence of a new spirit amongst tho Chinese, the Bishop expressed bis opinion that tho British people were now at the parting of tho ways, and were likely to bo overshadowed by tho Western nation.. One of the principal factors in its rise to Christianity Was tho national idea of respect to elders by the younger generation—a deference to age and authority, now not too common amongst us.

At the end of the service, the Bishop licensed to the office of lay readers, Edgar Lionel Harvie, Walter Vaughan Wilson, and A.! D. Stanley, ; . - „ . , -

Tho Bishop will be present at ’evensong in the Parish Church at 7.15, and will afterwards attend tho social at tho Parish Hall to enable the parishioners,to meet him.