ECCLESIASTICAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9041, 21 November 1892, Page 3

ECCLESIASTICAL.

The annual flower services of the Ponsonby Baptist Church were held yesterday. The pastor (the Rev. J. D. Gilmore) conducted the services morning and evening, preaching appropriate discourses to large congregations. In the afternoon the Rev. J as. Blaikie, of the Tabernacle, delivered an admirable address to the children and parents, the building being crowded to tho doors, from Psalms xcii. 12, " The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree." The children sang very nicely under the conductorship of Mr. J. Bigelow, a choice selection of hymns, aided by a strong orchestra. The afternoon collection was devoted to the Sunday-school festival fund. The church was tastefully decorated. At the back of the rostrum was the passage, " Looking unto Jesus," in boxwood and roses, and on either side on the wall were anchors, wreaths,' and other floral devices. All the • doors and the windows flanking the rostrum were decorated with box-wood and flowers, and cabbage trees with flowers, while at intervals were groups of arum lilies, interspersed with ferns. On either side of the pulpit desk were gorgeous masses of bloom of every hue and variety of flower. The flowers, it is understood, are to be sent to some of the public institutions for the inmates, or for the sick.

Flower services were held in the Primitive Methodist Church, Franklin Road, in aid of the superannuation fund for ministers, widows, and orphans. At the morning service the decorations were lilies, and the pastor (the Rev. W. S. Potter) preached an appropriate discourse from the text, " Consider the lilies, how they grow." Miss McKenzie sang, "Consider the Lilies," while the choir also rendered an anthem bearing the same title. Miss Mary Dunn recited a piece entitled The Lilies." At the evening service the decorations of the church were of roses,' Mr. Potter taking as his text the passage,:"! am the Rose of Sharon." Master James Merrick recited a piece, No Thorn Without a Rose," and Miss Ethel Potter Dr Watts' hymn, "The' Rose." The decorations of the church were very tastefully executed. At the back of the pulpit was the passage, "God is Love," worked in rosebuds, flanked by groups of arum lilies.