BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1915, Page 8

BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

BUSY WEEK-END AT NEW PLYMOUTH. SERMONS AT ST. MARY'S. HUd Bisliop of Auckland (Dr. Averill), who has been visiting the Taranaki portion of his diocese, spent a busy weekend at New Plymouth, and leaves for Auckland by the mail train this morning. On Saturday afternoon Bishop Averill visited the Girls' Friendly Society's institution, where ho gave a short and interesting address to a large number of girls. The institution provides an excellent meeting place and place of entertainment for girls working in the town who have not their homes here, and the Bishop praised the good work which the society was doing, speaking earnestly and sympathetically to the girls. Yesterday morning Bishop Averill preached in St. Mary's Church to a large congregation. In the afternoon he held a confirmation service, at which 8S candidates were confirmed. The Bishop gave a short and appropriate address. In the evening Dr. Averill again preached at St, Mary's Church, which was well filled. DUTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL. Preaching at the morning service, tho Bishop said he was struck by the helpfulness of the Psalms; they provided a message for every need and mood. There was the picture of life which showed in the journey through the vale of tears that difficulties were made to be over-' come, and, he said, life was increased and intensified in proportion as it was filled with a definite purpose. It was only the aimless and purposeless life which was a desert. Proceeding, his Lordship said that living was more than existing and just drifting; living was developing the whole work of God, Who had given us powers and faculties, and using them in the service of God and humanity. God had put us in the world to make the best of ourselves. Life was full of opportunities, and it was in using our opportunities that we added strength to strength, so that when we appeared before God in Zion we had developed ourselves capable of more extended usefulness. The individual existed for the sake of the community and society, and the development of the individual was for the strengthening of the body. The question was not whether a man was saving his own soul, but whether he was making the best of himself for the sake of tho community. All justifiable war, continued the Bishop, was in the long run a real attempt to enable a nation to come to its true self, and make its proper contribution to the world's development and progress. An apt illustration of the truth that the individual existed for the sake of the whole community was provided by the present war, for it had shown that the individual existed for the sake of his country, for the Empire, and for tha good of the world. "Are the churchmen of New Plymouth making the best of themselves for the sake of the church, and for the influence of the church in New Plymouth, and the province?" asked the Bishop. This was a question churchmen had to ask themselves. The church, which should be the conscience of a nation, was too much a thing apart from the national life and ideals, and too often the ideals of the church and the ideals of the nation were divorced one from the other. Until the forces of religion were sufficiently united to speak with no uncertain sound, the world would still be subject to these terrible upheavals in industrial and international life. It needed a crisis to bring out man's character, and it needed a crisis to test a man's faith and to gauge the depth of his religion. Superficial faith vanishes when a real test comes. It was vita! religion which the world needed, as it was only vital religion which could save the world. The spontaneous outburst of the spirit of service and sacrifice had shown only too (plainly where wo had failed in the past. The Bishop concluded: "To-day is the great challenge. Shall we accept it, and begin a new life of assimilation, which means strength and growth? Use your church account for building up a reserve, use your spiritual strength in the service of God and the world, for the world is waiting for manifestations of service and sacrifice."

THE GREATER SACRIFICE. At the evening service, the Bishop took as his text Chapter II of Kings IV, 215. "Is it well with thee?" It seemed, he said, almost a heartless question to ask when the poor Shunainite woman had lost her only son, and yet her answer, "It is well," revealed the fact that lu>r trust was greater evtn than her grief. Probably she had realised that God was the great Partner with us in the education, training, and welfare of our children, and if they were taken out of our hands they were not taken out of God's. At the present time we were constantly called upon to weep with those that weep, and we knew that every fresh casualty list meant more sad hearts and more sorrowing homes. "We honor the men who go forth at the call of duty, to take part in this great war of self defence—this great act of chivalry for the protection of the weak and oppressed. We honor them in life, we honor (hem in death, and if they are called upon to make the great sacrifice, surely .the parents and wives are called upon to make the greater sacrifice. Upon them, therefore. we bestow the more abundant honor, for they are the greatest heroes and heroines. They have sacrificed something harder than life. have given to the Empire that which cost them most." Splendidly and courageously mother, wife, and father gave the answer, "It is well"—not because they gloried in war (for they hate and abhor it), but because the tremendous task had been forced upon us to defend the very principles of life and the very honor of God in the world. In the home the child learned lessons which were never lost, and lie (the preacher) felt perfectly certain that the home life and the home lessons of our soldiers were a constant help and strength to them in their hour of trial and need. But tiie partnership with God did not end with the home life, and the, preacher asked mothers and fathers if

they were co-operating with God's Church in the training of their children. Were they, he added, anxious they should grow up good men and women, were they anxious about their characters and prospects, did they realise the meaaing and purpose of Sunday schools, did they seo why every churchman in JTew Plymouth should back up the effort to erect the new Sunday school? The church had a further message of comfort for those who had lost their dear ones, for if God was the great Partner he had a purpose in his mind for each one, and that purpose must and would be carried out, The boy who gives his life in a uohlc causf., with his powers and faculties only partially developed, could not possibly suffer any dwarfing of his mental and spiritual stature. Paradise Was only the uppeT school of life, and in that upper school the boy would become what lie was capable of becoming and occupy the mansion he was capable of occupying. At the conclusion of tiie service the congregation rose and sang the National Anthem. "