ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1920, Page 4

ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY. HISTORIC ASSOCIATIONS. To commemorate the 74tlr anniversary of St. Mary's Church, New Plymouth, a festival service was held in the church last evening, when there was a crowded congregation. Special music by an augmented choir was a feature. of the service. The officiating ministers were the vicar (Rev. F. 6. Harvie), the vicars of Te Henui (Rev. G. Beale), Waitara (Rev. 6. Giavin), Inglewood (Rev. ,T. Stanton), and Stratford (Rev. C. W. Howard). The sermon was preached by Rev. Stanton. He remarked that the first portion of the church was still in existence as a part of the enlarged building, and he said it would be a grand thing if the example were followed more throughout the Dominion, and there were churches such as St. Mary's with little corners which possessed such very special associations, linking the spiritual life of the present generation to the ginning of the church in newly-settled districts in former days. St. Mary's was a joy to a great many in New Zealand. It was a reminder to the people lest they should forget, and the old pile also stood as a witness to rebuke the Godlessness of those who sometimes forgot Him. Such a service as was being held that evening was a help; it was good for all to be there, for the moments of exaltation in true worship were all too short and too few. From the sacrament of devotion they passed again into ordinary day lives, he trusted, with a transfigured outlook. St. Mary's was founded in 1840, and the first sermon was preached, ! by the Rev. Wm. Bolland, who was put in charge of the New Plymouth district (by Bishop Selwin in 1543. Up till the erection of the church, services were held iu a building in the vicinity of Currie kane (now Currie Street). The Rev. Bolland died in 1847, and his grave is situated at the east end of St. Mary's,