BISHOP JULIUS AT GERALDINE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2137, 13 December 1890, Page 2

BISHOP JULIUS AT GERALDINE.

His Lordship the Eight Rev. Bishop ef Christchurch preached at St, Mary’s, Geraldine, on Thursday evening last to a crowded congregation. The lessons were read by the Rev. T. A. Hamilton, of Temuka, and the Rev, J. Preston also assisted with the service. His Lordship took his text from Philipians iii., 14 and 15. He commenced by referring to the amount and the quality of reading indulged in at the present day. A great deal of this was useless, if not injurious, but he contended that biographies of great men could never fail to be elevating. They might always depend that great men had one great leading principle by which they directed their lives, St. Paul, he held, was one of earth’s truly great and heroic men. Looking at his life he said obedience to the Divine will was the great guiding principle. Concentration of energy and action was the great element of success. A man should set before him some worthy aim and then if he concentrated all his powers upon attaining bis mark in the majority of cases he became successful in doing so. St. Paul’s one aim was the attainment of the highest possibility of his nature, the very best that God Almighty could make of him. The Christian’s life must be one of progress. He could not stand still, but, like the runner, he must go forward. The speaker asked those present to put to themselves the question “ What could God make of me if 1 would let Him?” He asked each one before him to enquire of themselves what they were living for, what they were reaching forward to, what was the great aim and object of their lives. He impressed upon them the fact that nothing in this world was more worth striving for than the desire to be purer, holier, nobler, batter in every sense of the word. Everything else would pass away; they could take nothing with them, but not one particle of all that was pure, true, noble, good, and beautiful in their lives would they have to part with, but would be able to take it with them in the brighter and better world to come. The sermon, which was indeed a treat to those who were presens, was listened to with rapt attention. The Rev. Mr Preston invited the members of the church to call at the parsonage the following day between the hours of 8 and 5 p.m., when Mrs Julius would be most happy to receive them.