ALL SAINTS’ DAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 288, 2 November 1934, Page 2

ALL SAINTS’ DAY

PATRONAL FESTIVAL CELEBRATED.

CALL TO INTROSPECTION

There was a very good attendance at All Saints’ Gliurch last evening when, in observance of All Saints’ l)ay, festal evensong was celebrated. The service was wholly choral and proved most impressive and inspiring. Veil. Archdeacon F. H. Petrie, of Feilding, conducted the service and Rev. P. Wiltshire, vicar of Pongsiroa, preached the sermon. Rev. 1). J. Davies, of Terrace End, and Rev. 11. R. Gorctz, of Ashhurst, read the Lessons from Ecclesiastes and the Rook of the Revelation. Also associated with them were Canon (1. V. Woodward and Rev. F. 0. Rail.

Following the procedure for the celebration of the day, the choir —augmented by members of the Terrace End, Takaro, Ashhurst ,and Feilding choirs —was heard to splendid effect; the anthems “Hail Gladdening Light” (Noble) and the Halleljuah Chorus from “The Messiah,” being rendered. The hymns wore particularly appropriate —“For all the Saints,” “The Saints of God,” “Who are These Like Stars Appearing?” anil the Processional, “The Coil of Abraham Praise” —while appropriate Psalms were also

sung. . , Mr Wiltshire spoke from the Beatitudes, selecting for presentation “Blessed Are the Pure in Heart,” stating that consideration prompted three chief thoughts. The first was that the world at the present time was in need of thinking men and women. “We are desperately in need of the faculty to think. Too often things are done in a thoughtless and careless way; we go along slipshod and drifting,” he said. “A great proposition of men and women go through life without thinking and wo as Christians should strive to have developed the facility to think.” A tremendous need was to cultivate

a sense of proportion, Mr Wiltshire stated as his second point. “Perhaps we need this more than anything else with regard to our Christian faith. We have been brought up to it and wo take it as a matter of course, and we do not wonder what the world might be without it. Let us investigate the conditions before and after the coming of Christ and then wc will conic hack with our faith very real and a different thine.” The third thought provoked was that the individual influenced for good or evil those around him—lie was never neutral. The lesson deduced was to turn to God constantly to seek strength that the influence exerted might be for good. “When Christ spoke the Beatitudes He was quoting the perfect character and the Mother Church in her wisdom set them down as the Gospel for All Saints’ Day. We are reminded of our location, that we are called to be saints,” Mr Wiltshire proceeded. There was need lor a positive viewpoint about purity in matters appertaining to the flesh. “We read Mu the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth? . . . Do we believe He created these tilings and then was left out, or that God is still creating? Wc make great provisions for the physical welfare of the child, but do we make provision for its spiritual welfare Its a thought we must have,” the preached proceeded. However, a better viewpoint of the Beatitudes was the wider one, best expressed in the translation, “Blessed are the single in eye lor they shall see God.” “Wc who are called to he saints as Christian men and women must be single in eye to the purpose of God. is our life being shaped day by day that God may be glorified and His Kingdom may come on earth ? Is our particular work in the Church being done to His glory? Are we in the choir to sing to the Glory of God or arc wo tempted to seek for praise lor ourselves? Do we belong to the Ladies’ Guild and do well to be praised for it, or is it for the glory of God? Are tve in the Men’s Club for the dub life and only come to church occasionally, or is our social life to the glory of God? Do we teach in tlie Sunday School with the wondrous ideal of imparting the love of Christ, or have we drifted into a habit of teaching liecause we have been asked? These things wo must seearch our hearts to see; it is so easy to drift into careless ways. . . . And what of those with no job? ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father Which is in Heaven.’ is your daily life such that in a quiet, unassuming way it bears witness to the fact that you are a Christian man or woman? As we grow older our character is being carved on our face and form. You can pick out persons by their faces, but go home and study your own face and see if there’s anything tliero mars the image of God. “The world is desperately in need of men and women who will go through life and witness in their lives to God in their city and country. Let us examine ourselves to see if we arc going through life with a single eye to the purpose of God,” Mr Wiltshire adjured in conclusion.

The service was brought to a conclusion with the Processional, tlie singing of tlie Hallelujah Chorus, and the Sevenfold Amen. Prior to tlie sermon being delivered Canon Woodward read messages of greeting from Aliss Weeks, of New Plymouth, and Rev. G. W. Dent, of Wellington. The golden offering received was for the funds of All Saints’ Children’s Home.