THE HEALING MISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18703, 8 May 1924, Page 10

THE HEALING MISSION.

GROSS OF COMMEMORATION.

DEDICATION AT ST. MATTHEW'S. A memorial cross a thank offering from those who received health and blessing " at the mission of healing conducted by Mr. J. M. Hickson in Auckland— was dedicated in St. Matthew's Church last evening by Bishop Averili. There was a small : congregation. The 1 cross is of brass and is placed upon the altar. There were memories* in men's lives, said the bishop, which would never bo effaced, 'memories which' the passage of time only made more familiar until .they became part of life itself. 'Such was the effect of the transfiguration in . the' life of St. Peter and such ' the effect of the healing mission in the lives of many m Auckland. The heavens had been opened and the nearness of the living God revealed. In that. church, for aver hallowed to .so many on account of their•. memorable experience during the mission of healing, they -were met to dedicate and' erect in the very highest place' of * honour a permanent memorial of the spiritual experience vouchsafed to them. St. Matthew's in that time had been a veritable Mount of Transfiguration. . In spite of : their number, the physical blessings received at the mission, were subordinate to the spiritual blessings. ' Nevertheless, even now scarcely ; a week' passed without fresh testimonies being received of physical benefits arising out; of the mission. These came from the King Country, the Far North, as well as from the city itself, the bishop quoting details of recent ewes. _ y\ . ./••'V-'.'l Bishop Averill said he fully realised that physical blessings were not vouch- ! safed to all. He would not attempt to explain that or to throw .doubt on the faith of those who received no physical benefit. But it was certain that God did will man's physical health although, for reasons unfathomable, manv continued to suffer. " Let us remember," concluded the bishop, " what > praver and faith did for us then and, if then, why not now and always ? " . May this cross remind us constantly of what the mission ! meant. What we saw was the real and ! the true." The service, conducted by the Rev. 0. H. Grant Cowan, - included prayers hymns and scriptural readings of an ap-> propriaio nature. \'