SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1929, Page 9

SERVICE AT WESTMINSTER

SHORT CEREMONY PLANNED ROYAL FAMILY TO ATTEND PRIMATE GIVES NO SERMON By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Australian Press Association. Received July 7, 5.5. p.m. Sun Cable. London, July 6. The Westminster Abbey thanksgiving service begins at 11 o’clock. At the King’s own wish it will be one of the shortest and simplest ever held and is expected to last only about 30 minutes. Weather permitting the King will drive from Buckingham Palace in an open carriage via the Mall, the Horse Guards Par. wle and Whitehall. British legionaries will line the route. Their Majesties, with the Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York and other royalties, will enter through the Great West Door, and while they are being conducted to their places the choir will sing Spring Rice’s hymn, “I vow to thee my Country,” after which the congregation will sing the hymn "All People That on Earth Do Dwell.” The Dean will then say: "God save the King.. God eave the realm. God give us thankful hearts.” The congregation will reply by singing the first verse of the National Anthem. Special passages have been selected from the Psalms and Isaiah for expressions of thanksgiving. After that the Primate will say prayers of thankfulness for the King’s recovery and for the “gifts of strength and courage given to the Queen.” Prayers for the sick and suffering generally and for the Empire will follow. Then the Te Deum will be sung, after which the Primate will pronounce the Benediction. Their Majesties will leave the Abbey while the congregation sings Blake’s hymn, “I Will Not Cease from Mental Fight.” There will be no sermon, the Primate, Dr. Cosmo Lang, believing all present will be fully conscious of their purpose in attending. The King will wear morning dress and there will be no State ceremonial. His Majesty’s thanks-offering fund has now reached £430,264. MESSAGE FROM NEW ZEALAND. COMMON PRAYER OF EMPIRE. Wellington, Last Night. The Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, has sent the folowing telegram to the King: "Your Majesty’s subjects in New Zealand have joined to-day with the rest of the Empire in united thanksgiving to Almighty God for your Majesty’s restoration to health, and in the earnest prayer that your Majesty may long be spared to reign over a people knit together in common loyalty and love to your Majesty’s Throne and person.”

“PRIVILEGES OF CITIZENSHIP.”

ADDRESS AT FITZROY METHODIST.

“The Privileges of British Citizenship” was the title of an address by the Rev. R. B. Gosnell at the Fitzroy Methodist Church last night. There was a fairly large congregation. T e prescribed order of service was used and the choir sang Jackson’s “Te Deum.”

They should be thankful, said Mr. Gosnell, that they belonged to such an Empire. It never stood higher in the general esteem of the world than it did to-day. The throne was more secure than at any stage of the history of the nation. Though the record of the Empire was not free from mistakes, without being “Little Englanders,” they could be thankful they were under the protection of the Union Jack. God had been very generous, for they still had a country and a flag and a King and a God.

At the morning service there was a good parade of Guides and Scouts, to whom Mr. Gosnell preached on the subject of “Let Nothing be Wasted.” . The hymns were of a special and national character.

In the afternoon Mr. Gosnell conducted a thanksgiving service at Moturoa in the house of Atua Taukoi. Both Maoris and pakehas were present. Special thanksgiving services of a nature similar to those at other Methodist churches were conducted by the Rev. G S. Cook at the St. Aubyn Church and at the other churches throughout North Taranaki. CHRISTIAN CHARACTER OF KING. ADDRESS IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH It was the gracious and Christian character of the King that had drawn to him the loving loyalty of his subjects and caused them to rejoice in the recovery of the Sovereign who had set such a worthy and noble example, said the Rev. F. A. Parry at the New Plymouth Baptist Church. The double duties of piety and loyalty were bound together, he said after quoting his text of “Fear God; Honour the King.” He reminded the congregation that the gratitude of a great Empire was being shown in a remarkable way that day, for, though the form might vary, the same message of thanksgiving was the subject of services in all churches, from great cathedrals to wayside chapels. There was a parade of Central and Westown Guides at the service, during which the appointed hymns were sung. OTHER SERVICES. St. Joseph’s Church, New Plymouth, was well filled at each of the three Masses yesterday morning. At each service Fathers Minogue and Barr-Brown read a letter from Archbishop Redwood, in which the head of Hie Wellington diocese expressed the wish that Sunday be set aside for a special thanksgiving service in commemoration of the King’s re-

covery. At the conclusion of each Mass, the Te Deum was recited. At the Salvation Army Citadel in New Plymouth Adjutant Tong conducted a thanksgiving service for the King’s return to health, the hymns and prayers being on the prescribed lines. “HIGH PLACE IN THE AFFECTIONS.” SERVICE IN. ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH Few Sovereigns had occupied the high place in the affections of the people enjoyed by the present King-Emperor of the British Commonwealth of Nations, said the Rev. J. D. McL. Wilson at St. Andrew’s - Presbyterian Church. It was uplifting to remember that that day the whole earth was encircled by services of praise and thanksgiving to God for the recovery of King George. Mr. Wilson said that it was thought when Queen Victoria died and again when King Edward passed away that none could ever gain such populaiity and such high esteem as theirs, but the wave of sympathy that swept across the globe as news came of the King’s illness, and that day’s universal expression of gratitude for his recovery, made them believe in the sincerity of the people’s prayer when they sang the National Anthem. It was of inestimable worth to the Empire and to its standing in the comity of nations that they had a ruler of such character and gifts. , There was a good muster of Guides from the Girls’ High School at the morning service at St. Andrew’s. Special thanksgiving services were also held in the Presbyterian churches at Waitara and Inglewood.

A service of a similar character was conducted by Canon H. R. B. Gillespie and the Rev. W. S. C. Stephens at Holy Trinity Church, Fitzroy.