Bishop Julius.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2695, 30 September 1905, Page 2

Bishop Julius.

VISIT TO SOUTHBRIDGE. o On Wednesday, His Lordship the Flight Rev the Bishop of Christ:hurch visited Southbridge, arriving it Dunsandel from Ash burton about midday. At Dunsandel the Bishop was met by the Rev H H S Hamilton vicar of JSt James', and driven to Southbridge At half- past 3 m the afternoon a confirmation service was held, when the Bishop confirmed ten adult persons. In the evening divine service was held m St James* Church at which the Bishop was the preacher for the occasion. There was a very large congregation present. The Bishop took for his text St Paul's Ist epistle to the Corinthians, 7ih chapter 24th verse, "Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God." Proceeding to discourse upon the subject matter of the text, the Bishop pointed out the restlessness that was to be found m the people ac those times, which sort of thing was also to be found among the people of " to-day. A man would fiud it strange to him if after. living for a long time m, say the back blocks of New Zealand, he took up his abode m a place like Corinjh. That man would say to himself i' " I can't go back and live among my old associates, after living here.' He would suppose that man to be the only Christian person m the place he came from The customs and devotedness orihe people to religion would make it difficult for a stranger to get used to them. He simply mentioned it as example If he (the Bishop) were to come across such a man, he would' advise him to go back to where he he was before. He would say to such a man, " Stay where God has put .you, and must mean jou to live. Business men were of' en restless, and not satisfied' where they were- -He would base Ms argument on two principles. The first would be that if God put a man m a certain place, He wanted him to stay there- His advice was : Don't gad about, but stay where you are. Again, he would quote a case that had come under his notice m the city of Norwich, where he had re-~~ sided for a time when young m Orders. There a man had told him that it was almost impossible to live a good Christian life with such surroundings as he had. Some would think that he would have told that man to go away from such surroundings, but he did not Ho that. He simply told the man to stay where he was as God no doubt intended him to be there. He quoted this case to show how hard the battle of life was with some people. The Bishop then went on to speak of the apparent apathy shown by some people m the matter of attending worship when the church was close handy, and drew the picture of a striking contrast where on one occasion he intended to hold a service at a township m his diocese, and was told not to, as there would not be anyone there on account of the weather. A high wind had blown all day, and much damage had been done by it. However, he told the person who spoke to him,, that one man would be there,, and the vicar * would make two. Service was held and the only other persons m the building beside the vicar and himself were a man and his family, who had driven ten miles to attend the service The answer to this was that the man who did come was of a tougher sort, and not soft like the others. He braced himself up, and knew that an effort was needed to attend the service. The Bishop* admired a man of tnat sort. There were some places he knew of where the Lord's Day was not kept as it should be. There was too much amusement and servants were hard worked cfh that day. Even a servant girl might say to him that she was dissatisfied with her position and express a desire to go away. Would he say to that girl " Leave it and go somewhere else?" No, he would not. He would .again say m the words of the text, " Stay where you are, for God has put you here, and you must stay here." He exhorted all to live a life of godliness and be content where God had placed them. He contended that the man with a year would do just as much good as one with ; it was simply a matter of proportion He urged them all to live the lives of good Christian men and womeo,, and think of the words of the text.