ADDRESS BY THE. BISHOP

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11103, 23 October 1901, Page 5

ADDRESS BY THE. BISHOP

THE,MISSION OF THE CHURCH.

I Last evening the members of the Diocesan Synod attended a special evensong service at the Cathedral, when the Bishop delivered his annual address to the Sycod. His Lordship, in the course of his address, referred first of all to the death, of the Queen, the accession of King Edward, and i the colonial tour of the l3uke and Duchess J of York. Continuing, he said that the ; Church of England, and indeed the whole of j Christendom, had suffered heavy loss by the ! deaths of two great historical bishops—the Bishop of London and the Bishop of Oxford. His Lordship also mentioned ths deaths oi i the Dean of Christchutch, 2Jr Justice Gres- ! son, late Chancellor of the Diocese, and Mr ' H. JR. Webb, one of the earliest members of ' the Synod. So, he said, the older men were t passing away, but they had lost others. Standing in some sense apart from others was the Rev. H. C. M. Watson, late vicar of St. John's. A thoughtful man, of wide reading, he had laboured for more than twenty-five years in one parish. One other loss he must mention from the-foremost ranks of the faithful laity was that of Dr. Jamas Irving. The names of these good men ought not to perish, but there was no ' memorial of any of them in the. Cathedral. i COMPLETION OP THE CATHEDRAL I After many delays they had bsgun the work of th'e completion of the transepts of the Cathedral, and as he* trusted, of the whole building. A service was held, as they had intended, in the Jubilee week, on the unfinished walls, : and a first start in the work so long suspend- ;' ed was made by Mr R. J. i>. Haiinan. • Nearly £7000 was yet required tor the compktion of the Cathedral Ihis was not too large for the liberality of the Church people throughout the diocese, if all of them would do a little. In pursuance of their repeated resolution to finish the work, and with the concurrence of the Chapter, he had appointed the Rev.' C. R. Pollock as his cuapiain for the purpose of raising the sum required, giving hint a free hand to obtain subscriptions throughout the diocese. • GENERAL. j . The diocese of the Cathedral had sustained a heavy loss by the resignation ot air G. F. Tendali of his position as organist of- the Cathedral. Trained under the " late Dr. Stainer, Mr Tendali came to New -Zealand tor health's sake, and soon after arrival accepted the office which he had held so worthily and effectually since. Concerning the Clergy Widows' and Orphans' Fund, Bishpp Julius said that there uught to be some honourable way of increasing the fund without making an additional claim upon the parishes. He had therefore reeoinmtnded that collections should be made on behalf of th© fund at every Contirmaj tion service. i Dealing with missionary events during ths past year, his Lordship said the Melanesian Mission had attained its Jubilee, and a strenuous effort was being made to replace j the Southern Cross, a- most dangerous and J unsuitable vessel, with a new ship. The 1 greater part of the sum required was m hand, ' and he tnankfully acknowledged, on behalf of the Mission, the liberality ol Church people throughout .the diocese. The Church of the j -ovince had been requested by the Bishop of London, with tne concurrence of tha Archbishop of Canterbury, to accept the charge of the islands of Fiji, Tonga-, and othsrs, supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the lsishop of London. A committee had been formed to frame some permanent scheme for the consideration of the General Synod, and to take such present action as might be required. Meanwhile, at the .request of the Primate, the Bishop of Wellington was visiting-Fiji, for the purpose of holding confirmations and • doing such other work as might be found . necessary on tie Island. The Bishop of. Tasmania- had recently accepted an appointment as secretary to the Society tor the Propagation of tha Gospal; a society which covered a large portion of ths mission field. WAS THE CHURCH FULFILLING HER j He-then-came ,to the main subject-of*his ;. address—Was- ; the "Church fulfilling tier mission in the colonies? The term; <v the . mission of the Cteirch," covered so much ground that he could not hope to answer the question save in respect ol some detail'! of her , mission. They ought to expect i much who spoke and acted with the sense of a divine euthority, wiho believed in the validity of the- Church's orders and Saoraments. She w#s no nfcV thing created yesterday, but the ancient Church of our , fathers, rioh in the „ glorious, roll of lier> sainte and~ddetors, rich also in recuperative J .vitality. "We ; 'contemplate,'V «aid Bishop ' Ligkfcf oot,' "her present position, her worldi wide ©ppaftunittes, .'.her 'mediatorial poeii tion, -her* eneregtic life. -If ever the,.voice i j of .God speaks to man. through actual; facts : it snrely speaks • through these. • Does it not tell us plainly that he has singled out this Church, from all the Churches for a 'special destiny? . I confess as I look around and try to forecast the prospects of religion in the years lying before us, I am • more and. more persuaded that this Church. of England is toe central hope of Christen- I dom." Was she'tlien, asked his Lerdship, fulfilling her mission in New Zealand, in this diocese? . Could he answer the quesj tion by reference to a few statistics? Was j it sufficient to say they had 1 built a new { charch here, placed a few men there, and, met their financial obligations: - No one ! detested the prevailing 'spirit of pessimism , more .than he.. It was an-affectation hope-* , lessly discouraging, unfaithful, an duntrue., ! ant a- blind optimism was even more disas- . trous. It. flattered itself with good con- \ gregatdons, while two-thirds" of the people j went nowhere. It boasted itself of forty I candidates for confirmation, while the thirty confirmed last year "had drifted away. It made "much of a, slight success, -while the main body of its army, -was driven back. £>o ifc deceived itself, writing itself eongra- - tulations on the sand. Let them look at facts. Were they winning souls to Christ? Were their people becoming more devout, more earnesV&nd faithful? Was the number of their communicants steadily increasing? Were they gaining an influence upon tue masses of the people? Was the social, intellectual, and spiritual influence of tbe Church making itself feit in the country? . Were they even holding "their own? -These i questions suggested many disquieting answers which should, make them consider, their ways. He would try to set forth three causes of weakness. He found them, firstly, in the. want)* of men; secondly, in the "want of teaching ;• and , , thirdly, in hindrances to worship. . . " TEACHING IN THE CHURCHES. "As he 3a«l last year, so ihe said again, their city parishes were far too large for an" one man, anu. unless some change was mad&- he should be compelled to ask the j tSynod. to attach the fourth parish to the' Cithedral. Much the same might be said of other large parishes in the diocese. From the Rakaia to the Racgitaia they had only , five men- at work. Two more*, at least, were needed. It had not been easy to find assistant curates, he was thankful to say that at the present time nine men were "being .trained for Hoiv Orders in College House. Ha had been told that men could not be expected to toke Holy Orders, that there was little preferment, , and that "the Church/ as it was called, ' was a poor profession. ' It was a poor profession; the very worst profession in the world to tbe niaa that entered it as a profession. But it was a blessed , service to the man who followed it without thought of preferment, or pretence of claims, and left hims?lf in God's hands. ■ There were many teachers, and there was much good teaching,; especially in the Sundarr Schools. The system of diocesan inspection, introduced some years ago, ihad steadily raised the tone and .character of the Sunday School work. He was', therefore, resolute to maintain the system, but he desired that it should take the form of rather than that of examination. The Rev. A. Hoggins* had informed him of his intention to resign his office as inspector of schools in the course of a few months. He took the opportunity of expressing his d>Eer> sense of his marked ability, his unwearied patience, and devotion - to his -work. Especially he thanked him for the initiation of a valuable course of lectures on teaching, recently given in the city. Speaking generally, he did net hesitate to say tihat the Church was not teaching h-er people. It was evident from Holy j

Scripture that teaching as * distinct from evangelising, occupied a foremost -place in the Church's ministry., She missionary waa above, all things a teacher. Preaching might awaken enquiry; leaching alone could satisfy it. The facts, the ideas, the very words," were strange-to'the heathen; to preach to t l hem as tfcfey preached was to preach in vain. They all knew this, but what they failed to recognise wfcfj the fact that to a great extent they were working under simi.ar conditions, and that if they weie to do any good they, must serve as missionary ami teach. IGNORANCE IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS. - Many of their people were ignorant Ignorance of the Bib.c, ignorance of the first principles of the Christian Faith , was Li? acepsi and more common than they • v.-L-re to imagine. To many of their I hearers sermons were often as little intelligible as they could -be to the Chinese. He ventured to say that one hail of the theological terms tfiey used conveyed no meaning. If the congregation were Chinese they should knew what to do^-preaching would be subordinated t<l teaching. As it was, they assumed t'hafc they knew* and le£i them in ignorance. Should they appeal to the heart only, and not to the understanding, or fai.ing to awaken interest .or attention confine themselves to topics of ths day, or descending lower, advertise their sermons under sensational tit'es, anil degrade their office? Or should they not rather recognise tlfe fact that where men were ignorant they must be taught, and. give themselves to teaching, i'hsy might lead* in the ,pu»pit; they musD teach in the class-room. What sbould he cay of parishes in which there were neither" guilds nor classes for the teaching end tiaining of adult members ofthe Church. Again, many of people v-'ere half educated. 'In these days, although they heard little of justification by faith, the tendency to mutilation of the Gospel remained. In one cliurch they found the soul of religion without the body; in «nether the body without the soul. In one church was preached the doctrine of the atonement, in another that of th'e Incarnation; here faith and repentance, there the authority of the Church and Apostolicai. succession". In either case a distorted Gospe., and wherever the proportion of the Faith was disregarded, there were half educated Christians. These men became the ready prey of false teachers, llany of thfem drifted into undenominational religion, .a leligion* which , never seemed to have a clear gi-asp of anything, often amounted to nothing more than deism, and was iitt,e better thaai tv Jiaifway house toinfidelity. ' Again the remedy was in teaching, explicit a,nd systematic, - with ciireful iegara to that full body of doctrine which was represented by the Church's seasons. It might seem to them that he was addressing the c.ergy when he ought to be addressing t'he bynod. Indeed,, it was noc so. Frequent intercourse-with Church committees, local nominators-, and other laymen, led him to \nov, how lightly many of them regarded the necessity of a teaching clergy. They wanted popular ■preacheis, bub they needed painstaking teachers. Again, many of "their people were perplexed. They had more or less critical and intelligent hearers or they might have them if they were not drifting away from tho churches. He was "speaking' of 'men. who knew something, if only on one side, oi criticism and modem .thought. The£ were not'helping these men. If-they went to church iney, were often" offended by reckless assertions, unsound arguments, and inapt quotations. But the fault was not" all their own. For instance, valuable courses of lectures'"had recently been given, in the Cathedral, but the men for whom •they were extended did not come. The fact was that men who doubted "were not j always troubled with doubts. Their attitude, often took the form of sluggish indifference, or" of a reticence that forbade enquiry. And yet he did not think these ineu would have left them, if they had" done\ .their duty; if they had taught them instead of denouncing them. They wanted help' and teaching," not exhortation, and they did nab get them. A wider sympathy with intellectual 'difficulties on .their part : wotdd surely facilitate opportunities of study and discussion;,. Many of those difficul-. ties arosefrom.whatw.ascalled "the Higher; "Criticism;,"' a, -thing,:little understood evea i>7 those who knew- something about it. They, acknowledged that the Holy* Scriptures were Divinely inspired and. they believed also that they were* truly. and j ,imfcenselv human,, rbut. if so truth and.re--1 verence* alike demand«d that they should fearlessly and critically examine them;- .It. was a" poor, cause that declined' criticism, and,, indeed,, there was no reason to bY afraid." The distinctions', however, - r had' to be'made i First,. between results, and", (ilieories, and second betwesn genuine, and-' biassed critics. It. was true that advanced critics did, not hesitate" to throw doubt upon those things which.' were most surely .believed amongst us, -as the Miraculous. Con-, ception and the Resurrection, of bur Lord, and that some of the people, accepted tlieir theories for the results of. calm-and dispassionate ; enquiry." They should help them not by violent denunciation, not byaffected contempt of criticism/ least of aJI by tampering with" the truths committed to their charge, but by manifesting their own love of the, light, and. by" leaduig .them" to those deeper principles upon which fire Faith rested secure. SUGGI&TED CHANGES IN THE '

PRAYER BOOK.

There, was'one other source of weakness , to which' he* must refer.. It ■' was'needless for him to spend' any t-iine , in praise of the Book of Common Prayer, their noblest heritage from the .Mother Church. They loved it well, they resented the thought of any,change, they were as jealous" ot. its' integrity, as . theyi. were of that of the authorised version" of the Scriptures, , and with much good reason. Yet some changes were neceseaiy. The. changes which he himsslf desired were all of them, included in. the American Prayer Book. One of them, the restoration of the Prayer of Oblation and the Invocation in the lioiy Eucharist, to their ancient place, he. earnestly, hopad to see. But there was one •other wnich concerned his present purpose, th-a use of the Aiihanasian Greed. The value of the Creed was very great, but its use, at leAst in its present form, , sesmed to him almost, disastrous. A newtranslation of the Creed promised no relief. Th:3 words meant what tfchey said, and they sa:d it plainly. The omission of the , attached clauses had good precedent, but could scarcely ba made by them. The proposal made "in the General Synod and almost carried to make its use optional, •while it would relieve the conscience of the I priest, might not relieve those of his congregation, for it placed the people at his m&rcy. .The suspension of the rubric, directing its nse seemed to be the only j way of "relief open-to them, and for that they must patiently wait. Other changes were necessary by way of addition. It , was in the power of the Bishop to ] authorise the use of such additional forms of service as were required for special occasions. Many of those now in use, notably tiiat for the Consecration of> Churches* are mosaics of the Book of Common Prayer, unhappily contrived. Such woik should bs done not .by one Bishop only, but by the Bishops of the Province, with the best assistance they could obtain. IN CONCLUSION. In conclusion, he exhorted the clerjy not to bVdiscouraged. For two yearspast they had watched the slow and weary progress of a great war; it had been a war cf sad mistakes, of many failures, and of little glory, save that" men had died nobly, and, suffering hardship, famine, pestilence, and discouragement, had endured bravely. The war went on; it was pitiful, heartrending, but there was no doubt of ultimate success. They, too, were soldiers; they also knew failure and weakness; they had/ made mistakes, perhaps their leader had made more than- any of them; there was room for repentance, for amendment, for earnest-effort, and for believing prayer, but there was no room for despair. Triumph jnust come to the cause of Christ. . •