S. ANDREW'S CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE. Anniversary Services.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2208, 2 September 1886, Page 3

S. ANDREW'S CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE. Anniversary Services.

Thr anniversary services of S. Andrew's Church, Cambridge, were held on Tuesday night. There was but a amall congregation, as the weather during the day had neen very inclement, and the night was very dark. The t.ervice was choral, and was well rendered by a numerous and efficient choir, under the conductorship of Mr T. H.irtly, while Mrs Chitty was organist. The special psalms and canticles were well chanted, and the anthem, "In Jewry is God Known," was sung in a finished manner. The Incumbent, the Yen. Archdeacon Willis, read the service and the th>t lesson, and the second lesson was read by the Rev. R. O'C. Biggs. The Rev. W. Calder was the preacher, and selected his text from tho 20th verse, fith chapter of tho Second Book of Chronicles, "Tnat thine eyes maybe upon this house day and night, upon tho place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there." The preacher said man i* essentially a religious animal. He carries that within him— call it soul, nerve, or what you will— that which is a part stronger than himself, that strives after better things than he meets with in his daily calling. Tho pagan altars in heathan lands, the sacrifice of Abel, the prayer of Abraham, the solemn prayer at the dedication of the temple by Solomon, this evening's service, all provo that man is a religious animal, who has something about him which must be satisfied, and we have this something in the revelation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Tho teaching is awful or comfortable as we take it in relation to ourselves. In the olden times there were tho revelations of prophecy and oracle, but in these last days God has revealed himself by his own son, "the heir of all things. We have tho incarnation of our Lord as an example, his resurection as an assurance that man is not only an animal, but has a soul which ->!iall riso, and his ascension a token that the Lord has rixen to his throne of glory, where he gathers in one concrete mass the prayers and aspirations of all humanity. How does this tnth touch us? Some with devotion, some with reverence, some with aw© because of its grandour. It is too immense for us to grasp. At tho service on Sundays you feel a thrill of devotion, but cannot get it into shape. I charge yon with this, that you fail to realise in its intensity tho revelation of Jtisus Christ. There are two errors comrrion in religious polity, tho error of individuality and the orror of sinking tho system in the mass. In the first case it is all \erv woll up to a certain point for each man to bo his own interpreter, rule, and guide; but individuality isaptto be carried ton far and lead to caprice, not only fieethought, which is good in itself, but a too individualistic line of thought. Then the second error, the sinking the system in th« mass, gives no freedom to the individual, but, as occurs in one system of religion, the individual is crystallised and fossilised. What do we find then ? On the one hand caprice, and on the other a man does no thinking for himself. This needs no controversy, and we may take it as an accepted fact tint we do not realise in all its grandeur the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have our great festivals, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension Day, etc., and between theso great revelations we have a sort of half-way house in the feßtivals for the dedication of a church. We are unablo to grasp these greater revelations, because 'they are too vast for ns to realise. They affect us as a part of the church extending all over the world whereever our service is paid or sung, and the subject is too great for the human brain to contemplate. Bring it to your own case. In this dedication you can realise that all this glory shall havo a local habitation. It gives a domestic side to religious life. You know well that grand as congregational worship is, you can sometimes bring petitions before God in your private chamber better than you could in church, yet you feel the doctrines taught you in the church. You feel the doctrine of Good Friday, Jesus Christ the sacrifice for man. Yon go out of church on Good Friday, and meet a man. You don't quarrel with him, but you can't help thinking unkindly to him. Perhaps you think he is a hard man in business, and has been hard to you ; but can you pass that man without notico, without showing a feeling of fellowship towards him. "V cs, you know you often do. A festival of this kind brings you together as a family. S. Paul writing to the Galatians writes to them as a family that he knew face to face, and knew which of them were children of the devil, and who among them was tilled with the fruits ot the spirit. You know your neighbours, what their failings, their needs are, and all your thoughts of religion should bo focusscd and centred on an occ union like this. This festival should be a time for drawing near to one another. Your minister has announced that next Sunday morning at 8 o'clock there will bo a service of love. Try and draw near to one another, and bring about what Jesus Christ has revealed; God and man brought together, as the hymn .says God and sinners reconciled. Yes they are in Christ Jesus. What is religion but bringing down to us all the power and glory and love, all that Christ has done for and amongst men. At dedication services it is customary to dwell on the pecuniary prosperity of the parish. In these hard times great prosperity in a pecuniary sense is not to be expected, but the prosperity of the Church U not measured by a pecuniary standard. The Church is not a bank account nor a building, and the balance of what is to the good is the absenco of differences among its members, the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace. Our fault is that we cannot grasp it, it is too great for us, and we only realise it sometimes under the rod of affliction. At tho laat house I visited in my parish before coming here I saw a mau whose life for the past ten years was focussed into one fortnight. He bad realised the revelation at last, but had to pay for it in the agony he felt. At almost the first house I visited on arriving at my old parish I found a young girl who had a similar experience. One was an old man, brought up in the rigid school of PresbytemtUMu, and the other an artless child. If true for them it is true for all creation — true for you and me. The local habitation of the Lord helps to realise it. Here all events are focussed. Here you brought your children for baptism ; here you were united in matrimony ; here you have often fed your fainting and weary souls, and here all this comes back to you. The policy of the Church of England i-> a mm committal policy. You can't get a Churchman to shout " Glory ! Hallelujah !' though he may feel it in a sort of nervous way, but on the occasion of a festival like this wo can give some vent to our feelings. This local habitation gives a homely— a local feeling, and we mibt always begin at the tight end ; be a town board fimt, then a borough, then a county council, then a province. You must touch your brother before you approach your neighbour, and not try to reach those afar off before you begin at home. A man who would leave his children to starve while he founded a hospital in a distant land would not commend himself as a philanthropist. Let a man's actions be straight. Let it be said " That man belongs to S. Andrews' ; we can trust him." Let us get our family life, our parochial life pure and unselfish, and then we can show others what a Christian family is like. During the offertory the choir sang a number of sentences, and after tho Benediction a recessional hymn was sung as the clergy retired to the vestry. The secvicea will be continued on Sunday next. tmmmm^mmm>mmmmmmm»

A Boston congregation, the other Sunday, were waked right up out of a sound sleep by the preacher saying : «« That young man peeping in at the door had better come in and find whether she is here or not. The people in the back end of the church won't be so troubled by the draught." After the sound of retreating footsteps had ceased, the people settled back again and went on with their naps. The Passion of Revenge.— A garrison policeman named Hardiman committed suicide at Woolwich recently, after having made, it is supposed, an attempt to shoot his sergeant. Vor some days past the deceased had entertained a revengeful feeling towards Sergeant Coffee, who had had occasion to reprove him for some fault or act of negligence. In this state of mind he purchased a six-chambered revolver, which he loaded. He was afterwards seen stealthily going up the stairs belonging to the sergeant's quarters, holding the revolver behind him. The sergeant saw him approaching and locked the door of his «Sm After waiting about for some time Hardiman went to his home at 25, Water-San's-helds, Woolwich, where, in the oresencc of his wife, he shot himself through the temples and fell lifeless on the floor.