ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 95, 29 January 1872, Page 3

ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH.

OPENING SERVICE.

The new Church was opened for Divine Service by the Right Rev. Bishop Cowie, at 8 a.m. A communion service was held which was numerously attended. ; At 11 a.m. Divine Service was held, and was very largely attended, every seat in the building being occupied, and numbers being obliged to 'stand ih the aisles and round the doors—there must have been between 800 and 900 persons present. The iVolunteets,'headed by their brass band, marched to' church, there being a large muster of Engineers, T.S.V., Nos. 1. 2, and 3 H.RrV." -and the T.R.R. The N.avajff,. owing,' to', soli many of their number being absent did not muster, Xhercvirerc also.q largp detachment of Cadets, with their officers. The new building, though very largo, has v*rtt good acoustic: properties indeed, far better thin would bß' thought' at first sight. His Lordship preiichcd Ati Excellent sermon fropi the M 'My house 1 shall be called of, all,, nations a house of prayer, but ye have made ft\a,,deri of thieves.” In enlarging on t)is t}xt, he addressed some remarfcß to the.officers of the church, the churchwardens, and vestrymen,, strongly recommending tliom to look well to their duties, and to keep everything about the church and its affairs in good order.. 13y doing this they VWhld be able' to make it a house of prayer in the true sense of the word, not a’ place where only persons of one denomination could get to praise God, but a house into which any Christian cox’d d come and go through his devotions without being offended in any one way. Hi.e strongly recommended the choir to. Tpay great attention to their duties, as they were there for the purpose of assisting the congregation in their praises. Choirs in many places were very much blamed for their behaviour in church, and with justice; they were often in the habit of commencing to talk _ns soon as they had finished singing, and to pay little attention to the service. He did not at all say that such was the ■fact here, but he would tell them that from experience he always found that a well-behaved choir made a well-behaved congregation, occupying as they generally do such a conspicuous position. He said that he was very glad to see a large number of volunteers attending Divine, service in a body. It was an erroneous opinion that this sort of thing was wrong, for, if be did no other good, it brought them together to the House of God, and that could not never do harm, . and as for saying that military duties were incompatible with Christianity, he had in his own experience proved that many of the best soldiers were good Christian men. He also said that from the size of the district it would be 'absolutely necessary for them to have another,clergyman, as from the scattered nature of the population it was impossible for any one man, no matter how active or willing to visit all the members of the church down here, and that he considered ought to be doue. In the evening there was also a very large congregation. The Bev. V. Lush preached an excellent address, and reminded the members of the . congregation that though the building was up, nnd they were in it, there were yet many things wanted to make it as complete as it ought to be, and ho hoped that they would before long make some exertion to have everything properly finished. Owing to His Lordship Dr Cowie having to go to Auckland very unexpectedly, the confirmation which was to have taken place last night has been postponed to next Sunday evening. The offertory for the day, which is devoted to the building fund, amounted to £4l 13s 6d.