GOOD FRIDAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1704, 22 March 1913, Page 8

GOOD FRIDAY.

, THE CHURCH SERVICES. > Yesterday being' Good Friday # spccial services wore held in all tlio .Anglican and liomau Catholic Churches o£ tho city and suburbs, and: also in sonic churches of other denominations. ANGLICAN. At St. Paul's pro-Cathedral tho Eev, E. I. Kola officiated ,at Hie . morning service at 10.30 a.m., when ho gave- an ad.dress on suffering aiid 'its • influence on tho formation of character. Ho also conducted tho three hours' service commencing flt 'noon, lii the evening tho 'btovy of tlio Cross" was sunjj. . A number of Good I'riday services were conducted at St. Peter's (./lrurcli yesterday, ouo at 8 a.m., another at 10.30, aiul a "three hours' meditation" from noou until 3 p.m. ' The- subject selected for tho latter service was: "lho Worus ot Our Lord on tho Cross." . An evening servico commenced at 7 p.m., and atter-v.-nrds' Dr. Staincr's . was sung by the clioiv. Tho tenor solos were sung by Sir. Dunn, and tho bass solos by Mr. J. A. Dogherty. At St. Mark's Church, Sussex Square, tho sacred cantata, "Olivet to Calvary, was sung ou Thursday night. On Good Fridav tho services wero:—Matins at 10.30thrco hours'-service from/ 1- to .1 p.m.; and Evensong and tho Story ot tho Cross" at 7.30 p.m.

PRESBYTERIAN. A Good Friday servico was held in St. John's Church yesterday morning, when Dr. Gibb preached from the words Jle saved othexsj Himself Ho could, not Ho called attention, first to tho callousness, tho stinging mockery of this cry. To the men who uttered it the agony ot tho Lord was merely a subject of derision. The infamy ot their behaviour was deepened by tho fact that tlicy imagined they wero witnessing tho. death ot a detected impostor. When a man who. held his • head high in. tho community was detected in evil every honest heart tingled with ■pain and an almost; intolerable sense ot shame. Not to these iieiids m human .form. Beelzebub, .they thought, ;had got his own, and their, merriment was tho keener. It was ft involution ot the pit—" of tho malignant and deadly evil of the human heart. It was nevertheless true that Ho who sau-d others could not save Himself. Our Lord was in the grasp of a moral and spiritual necessity, lie could have summoned legions of avgels to .1 lis succour, but that might not he. There wero human analogies, though they cuino short of expressing nil ths truth. Hero one had an "infinite quantity-to deal with that would not balance-with a sum of littles however multiplied." Illustrations wero given to show that no greilt thing had over been'accomplished for the benefit of mankind savo by tho toro stress and costly sacrifice of tlioso ;who saved others becausc they could not'.save themselves. As concerned our Lord, it might be pointed out thot. for the perfecting of His own manhood He could not save Himself. "The author of their salvation was made poifect through sufferings." Of Him, too, it was truo that to find His life lie must loso it. His devotion to tho will of His Father demanded tho sacrifice. "The cup imy Father liath given 1110 shall I not drink it." So Ho lifted i'eot to tho long desolations and Itowed His nieek headon Calvary. His mighty-love of mauiuml made.tho sacrifioo inevitable. . This was in a Eense the only necessity for all olsfrHis owii perfecting, and tho'Father's will' sprang- out Of. tho lovo- that stooped' to • save. -If-man: wasi'to bo-redeemed Christ' must die. "-Weirtried to push behind, this and to ascertain tho relation of Christ's death to 1 tho-moral order of the universe, and in what" way that death makes the forgiveness of sin possible. . 'The inquiry never readied a satisfactory conclusion, The more intelligible theories of ; tho atonement, seemed ..to be tho less likely were they to be true. .'There was mystery everywhere in the,material world around us, iind no man wwd wonder that the supremo issues of tlio'i-piiitual universe were-'to-our broken, thought,shrouded in mys.tery; .But testimony pf,nll believing. .eSiierience ivas(Uiat(the.-ssorijico of Chi'ijSt, had reconciled, them to God, delivered them from .the power of sin, ..and wrought in their, hearts tho peaco' that passeth understanding. The question was: H«d this' been their experience? They had.-been jjought with , a great price. What was tiiciv rc3poriso-,to tho! wondrous lov'o of -tho. San of 'God? "''Ho had done, everything tor them. \Vhat;wero they -doing for Him; . "

A't-payal Easter service was' held at St. James's Prosbytcriuu Church, Newtown, last evening,, when, tho Rev. W. Shirer, pleaching lroin Luke's Gospel (chapter .IH, 50—03), dwelt upon the cll'eqt produced by the Crucifixion aiul death of Christ on tlio character and conduct of Joseph of Arimatlie-a, a, man of education, social position, culture, and wealth All thu evangelists guve an account; of Joseph's conduct after the Cruciiixion. .'Phis man gave a resting place to the, body of our iiord,. and thus; said the preacher, delivered Hiiu fro.oti further, indignity. Tho man.was,convicted,by his own conscionoo —the signs of wrong-doing by others awakened in him a> lull.sense of his own' failures.ia duty—and lib'.passed from his jjosition ox cowardice to quiet, determined courage. lie was ready to use. his wealth to do honour to Clu'isf. The living Christ now_ asked of men such a'spirit of selfsacrilice and S3lf-oxamijiation.'

ROMAN CATHOLIC. The usual solemn Good Friday eervicos wero held ,in tho Roman CathoHo-chur-ches of the city yesterday. These consisted of tho devout' contemplation of tlio scenes of tlio Passion, the observance of the stations of tho Cross, and tho celebration of tho mass of tho presauctiiied (celebrated at 9 a.m. yesterday). At St. Joseph's, Buckle Street, the Very Rev. Dean Regnault was tho celebrant,' and Fathers Scliaefcr and Herring, the deacon , and sub-deacon respectively. Tho. Rev. Father Ecclcton preached tho sermon oil tho Passion at Thursday evening's service, and last evening tho Rev. Br. Kennedy preached on tho samo subject at St. Joseph's;Devotions commenced at St. Annoys Church, Newtown, at 9 a.m. on Thursday, when Solemn. High Mass was celebrated .by the Rev.- Father Peoples. In tho evening the Rev. .'Father Murray, of • tlio Redemptorist Order, preached a sermon on tho Blessed Sacrament. Father Peoples was again'the celebrant at 9 o'clock mass yesterday.' Tho stations of tlio Cross wero made during tho afternoon, and, before.a largo'congregatioh last evening; tlio' Rev. Father Murray preachcd an eloquent sermon : on. tho Passion. Solemn higli'mass will bo celebrated to-morrow at St. Anne's. /,. Special services significant of tho day. •wero held at the Hill Street Basilica yesterday. Large congregations were present morning and evening. ' The Rov. Fathers Eickson and Tymons were tho -officiating priests.

'METHODIST.: Tlio United . Methodist Good' Friday ecrvico held iii Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, yesterday, was.attended. wy a fairly, largo congregation. Ministers, who took part wero the lle'vs. J. G. Chapman, ; .W. S. Potter, and P. J. Cossum. Lessons were rend by Messrs. Chapman and Potter, and tho speaker of the day was Mr. Cossum. Tho hymns were appropriate to tho occasion. Tho Wesley choir led tho singing, and Mr. H; Wells presided' at tho nrgan. A collection was taken up in aid of the'poor. ■