ST. ALBAN'S CHURCH, PLEASANT POINT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3605, 20 April 1886, Page 3

ST. ALBAN'S CHURCH, PLEASANT POINT.

At St. Alban's Church, Pleasant Point, there -was an unusually large congregation present on Sunday evening, when the incumbent, the Eev. Jasper Smyth, preached a sermon with special referenco to the loss of the Taiaroa. He selected for his text Eccls. 7, 2 — "lt is bettev to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is tho end of all men, and tho living will | lav it to his heart." After fully ojpatjating

on the test, and showing tho lessons which Bhould be learnt from it, he went -on to aayv From what- has been already ■ said, your minds must have naturally turned to that melancholy event which is now uppermost m all our thoughts. The text and subject, as well as the hymns which we hare selected for | this evening have been suggested by tho sad news which reached us on Monday last. I need hardly say I refer to the loss of the Taiaroa, which has cast such a gloom upon the whole colony, and especially upon tho neighbourhood of Timaru, where the steamer | and her officers are to well known. Though I did not personally know any of those who were lost, it is possible they were known to some of you. The sorrowing relations ore, however, known to many of us, and for thorn we feel the deepest sympathy. The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and it is only when it comes home to ourselves that we can fully realise it, or understand the words of John Newton, who, when writing on '■< the death of his wife,, said — "The parting struggle all was mine. 'Tis tho survivor dies." True, it is tho survivor who knows what death is, who feels its eting, who realises the loss of our dear departed ones. I don't know, my brethren, whether it : has ever fallen to your lot to witness a shipwreck, or to be saved from one yourselves ; but it has fallen to my lot, m my early years, to witness many; and m later years to be mercifully ' spared and rescued from a watery grave. I can therefore fully understand what the lost and the saved went through. The preacher hero graphically described the narrow escape which he himself had from shipwreck on his voyage Home from Australia—as well as tho shipwrecks which be witnessed at Horne — and repeated some verses composed by a little girl of only eleven years of age, who for the first time beheld a scene of the kind. It so touched her youthful fanoy that she shortly afterwards also composed " Her thoughts on Eternity," which were printed for private circulation. . Continuing, Mr Smyth said — and if a shipwreck could so touch the feelings and move the imagination of a little child, how much moro should it move us, and excite m us the deepest and tenderest sympathy ? Truly "m. tho midst of life we are m death, and we know not what a day may bring forth." While many -were peacefully worshipping their God last Sunday evening, their relations and friends were struggling m tho waves, — struggling only to find a watery grave. To thorn it was indeed a Sabbath ; a rest from their earthly cares ; a rest for tho weary ; a rest for thoso who wero safe m the arms of Jesus. To them we hope the promise was f ulfillod— " When thou passeth through the waters, I will bo with thee ; I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Who , can tell what words of peaco Jesus, by His spirit, spoke to His fearful and \ sorrowing ones m that trying moment ? May they not, for nil we know, have heard ; tho courts of heaven ringing with the shouts — "Lift up your heads O, ye gates, and bo ye lifted up ye cverlasting-doorrthat these [ .heirs of glory may come m." May they not m that solemn moment havo heard the " still small voice" of Jesus saying— " Friend come up higher." The dying martyr St. Stephen wa3 able to see the heavens opened, nnd have we not scriptural grounds for believing that some kind of manifestation is mttdo to dying ' Christians when passing through the valley of the shadow of death. Yes ; and this sweet thought ought to comfort those who are now mourning for tho lost and dear ones. From the days of Abraham to tho present it has been the instinctive wish of mankind ' to be laid besido tho ashes of our kith and ' kin ; but that wish cannot always bo realised, and Bad indeed it must be for thoso who cannot rocovcr the bodies of their lost friends ' to place tuem m some holy and consecrated spot, where they could plant a flower or Bhcd a tear of affection. But to thoso sorrowing ones the Gospel offers somo consolation, for it is written " The sea shall give up tho dead that are therein. Blessed are thoy that mourn for they shall be comforted, Thy brother shall rise again. The maid is not dead but sleepeth." For a time tho mighty deep may retain the particles of the body, but m the meantime the spirit has returned to God, who gavo it, and it will again re-inhabit tbht body renewed and fashioned after tho glorious likeness of Christ. And this very season reminds us forcibly that death precedes resurrection, and the coming Easter, now so near, ought to teach a lesson of comfort and consolation to tho sorrowing relatives, knowing that they who sleep m Jesus, God will bring with Him. Christ tho first fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming. As a congregation we cannot go to the many houses of mourn-, ing to weep with those that weep, but wo can go to the throne of grace, to Him who hath said, " Call upon me m the day of trouble and I will answer theo." Wo can go to our Father m heaven, and their Father too, und beseech Him to bind up tho broken hearts and to pour balm and consolation into their wounded spirits. I trust I interpret your feelings when I ask you now to join with me m prayer m behalf of the mourners. During tho delivery of the ' sermon ; of which tho above is a resume, tho preacher and congregation were at times visibly affected. After the sermon, the preacher offered up an extempore prayer on behalf of the sorrowing relatives. Tho following appropriate hymns wero Bung: — 399, " When our head 3 arc bowed with woe j" 370, " Eternal Father, strong to Save j" 231, " For ever with the Lord."