TWELFTH OF JULY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 134, 13 July 1914, Page 8

TWELFTH OF JULY.

ORANGE CELEBRATION.

A BIG PROCESSION.

Headed by their standard bearer, who carried aloft a fluttering Union Jack, 400 Orangement associated with the different lodges in Christchurch marched through the city yesterday. They all wore their lodge regalia, and marching in two lines they made quite an impressive appearance. The Highland Pipe Band, playing a lively air, added to the martial effect. The procession was watched by hundreds of people as it passed through Cathedral Square, and the principal streets, en route to St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. On arrival there the Grand Lodge officers marched back through the double "line, carrying an open Bible, and guarded by a group of officers with unsheathed swords. After this formality they marched back to the church and entered the building under an arch of swords, followed by the brethren. The spectators then crowded in, and the church was soon filled.

The preacher for the occasion was the Rev. F. Rule, who took for his text St. Paul's admonition to the Corinthians: "Watch ye; stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men; be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.' ' He quoted Carlyle 's dictum that "Religion makes the man." The most important thing about the individual was the particular form of religion he subscribed to and attempted to put into practice. The important factors in an individual multiplied themselves and produced the State. Broadening Carlyle's dictum, they arrived at the conclusion that religion was.the one thing which distinguished the civilisation of our day from many of the civilisations that were past and gone. Each type of religion developed its own type of character. The more liberal the type of religion the more liberal was the type of character it produced. The non-progressive form of the Christian religion produced a non-pro-gressive nation. He asked in all kindness and charity, What did they expect from a Church which stood apart from its fellows, and said that there was no such things as progress possible; that it was all it ought to have been from the beginning? It had declared its eternal hostility to modern civilisation, to modern progress, to modern liberalism, and had also that freedom of conscience and the right to worship God according to the tenets thereof lay at the root of modern corruption. They need not fear a body which subscribed to such convictions.

They had a duty to perform, and it was necessary that they shotild perform it in an age when religion was inclined to run to seed, and men were caught in the snare of pomp and ceremony. The day commemorated a time when an effective blow was struck in the interests of religious liberty. While they rejoiced, it was surely wisdom on their part to recognise goodness' wherever they found it. There was one thing they held in common with their Roman Catholic brethren —an interest in social questions. He wa3 one of the few Christian ministers of this city who possessed first-hand knowledge of the social conditions of Christchurch. When he came here six years ago the only church institution for dealing with unfortunate children was the palatial structure in Sydenham, the Nazareth Home. Now the Presbyterian Church had a home at Bligh's Eoad, where there were 49 children, and one at Richmond (St. Saviour's), with 45. The Methodist Home at Papanui had 12 or 15 children. Six years ago the Presbyterian Church had set him apart to prevent the drift of unfortunate Protestant children to Roman Catholic institutions in this city. He related a case which had come under his observation. A man whose wife had left him placed his two children in a licensed home, where he had to pay 10/per week per child. The local parish priest, on the ground that one of the grandmothers had had a nodding acquaintance with the Catholic Church, wrote to the father, offering to receive the children into Nazareth Home for 5/- a week each. The degenerate Scot saw an opportunity to save £26 a year, and he jumped at the offer. He (the speaker) received a letter from the local minister, and he met the father at the railway station when he was bringing the boys in, and as a result they were now being looked after in the Presbyterian Orphanage in Bligh's Road. (Applause.) The speaker contended that there was a great need for religious instruction to be given by fathers and mothers, who should not rob their children of the restraining influence of the Christian religion. One boy in the Juvenile Court did not know who Moses was, and another had never heard of the Commandments. The Bible was used in their courts, witnesses and jurymen being ..sworn on it to tell the-whole truth. Was it not their duty to see that their citizens and future citizens knew the contents of that Book? If fathers and mothers would not train the future citizens in the knowledge of the Book, the State must take every reasonable and legitimate step to put the Word of God into the' hands of their children. It-was not enough to put tt on their altars and surround it with cardinals.

The speaker concluded by reminding his hearers that they had a position to defend and a character to develop. Let them see that when the hammer of God struck their anvils they would ring true to the duties and obligations that devolved on a Christian man.

At a suitable interval "The Qualifications of an Orangeman" were recited by R.W.G.S. Bro. Budden. The collection, wh|ch will be handed to the Presbyterian 'Orphanage, amounted to £36.