ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1919, Page 4

ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

ANNUAL DEDICATION FESTIVAL, SERMON BY BISHOP AVERILL. Yesterday was the annual Dedication l' eativnl of St. Mary's Church. There were good congregations at all services. Holy Communion was celebrated by Bishop Averill at 8 o'clock, and by Archdeacon Evans at 11 o'clock. In the afternoon a confirmation service was held at which the Bishop confirmed S3 males and 1G females. In the evening special psalms and hymns were sung. The Bishop took for his text, Matthew XXII. 21, "Bender therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God, the things that are God's," This, he said, was the "Dedication festival of the church," which meant the passing of another milestone in the history and the life of the parish, and lie hoped it meant the I'cdedication of themselves to the, "Great Father God," from whom ali good tilings come. A good deal had been heard about re-construction, and a great deal about wliat was going to happen after the war, but we read too little about the causes of the war. Until we made an honest endeavor to face the causes, little re-construction was possible. The causes that lay at the root of all great ideals were essentially spiritual, and lie thought that the cause in the war lay in the confusion between Caesar and God, TJie world rendered the things of Caesar to God and those of Qod to Caesar. The Caesar god had Jailed and that idol god was crushed at their feet convicted of impotence and weakness. A POPULAR CONCEPTION. The truth of the matter was that we failed to grasp the nature of the true God and had something of heathenish, Jewish or Moliamedan conception of God, based more on the Psalms than the Gospel, and had failed to realise that progress in the conception of God was essential. While we had progressed in other directions we had remained stagnant and to a large extent unchristian. We had thought too much of the Old Testament view and too little of the of God, and had allowed our children td think that the Old Testament stood on the same footing as the New, and had come to think of God as an Oriental despot, dispensing good and evil as well. _ This popular conception of God, he believed, was misleading While men had come to believe in what they called Providence, that word had no real meaning to thein and was onlv to them the unknown God. If we still thought that God decreed war and pestilence, how could we realise a God of love and fatherhood. It contradicted the basic conception of righteous, love and justice. Wo must grasp the truth that the Old Testament is inadequate. The conception of God in the mind of the Psalmist was that of ft great King above all gods. Their god was superior to the gods of their neighbors, but they did not deny the existence of their neighbors' gods. It was only later in the Old Testament that We find "One God." Did we really believe in the fatherhood of God as revealed by Jesus Christ? Did we really think of fiod in the terms of Jesus Christ? The trouble in the past had been that we deified Caesar and Caesared God. A FALSE STANDARD.

The war, lie said, had brought many of us face to face with the false standard, though perhaps all had not the moral courage to acknowledge this. Often, we -said, we were deceived, when the truth was that we deceived ourselves, as we have never perhaps faced the position. The Jesus -Christ God is the only God that can satisfy us. It may be a shock at first'after thinking of the Oriental Potentate conception of God. to think of Him as a suffering God who won the way to victory through suffering, but the more we think of it the more we want to stand with Him to suffer with Him and share the great victory. When we begin to substitute the Jesus God for the Caesar god. we feel that God is more real, more worth loving worship and service, even if we have to admit God's sovereignty and limited monarchv.

He preferred the s"Tering God conception to that of "the Oriental Despot. Rod's name and nature was lore. Service and sacrifice was the essential of his belief. Look at Jesus, at His life, (it His service, His sacrifice and His cross. The great truth of God, the great truth of man is victory through effort, victory through service, victory through sacrifice. Men have tried to substitute a gospel of ease, of comfort and of respectability, and it has been overwhelmed in a welter of blood, because it was false. The war brought to an end the lie about deified Caesar. Like every other institution, a ruler must justify his right to the position, and, thank God, our King and Queen had risen to the highest conception of earthly sovereignty and by their love, devotion and sacrifice had earned the right to the reverence of the Empire over which they reigned. RELIGION FOR TO-DAY. Now that the war has come to an end Caesar's god may be obliterated from our minds, and we must take the God of suffering as our standard; God, the great comrade, the great sufferer and the great hero in the cause of humanity.' It is the God, unconquerable in death and at the last victory, which appeals to the best and noblest in us. The true God appeals to everyone to stand by His side as He fights to victory. It is only God's kingdom that can consolidate the peace wc have won by suffering and distress. We wanted church life now as never before, but as a meaus to an end we wanted men and women to be good church people. Therefore, on this day of dedication thov should try and lift their hearts to the living God. It was their duty to offer thanks with a liberal heart, to sacrifice themselves and work in order to raise a monument worthy of the blessings of a true and living faith that had come into their lives—faith in the one true loving God. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and don't mix the things that are God's Render unto God the things that are God's and don't mix with them the things that are Caesar's. The offertories throughout the day were devoted to St. Marv's Peace Memorial Fund.