TARARU SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Thames Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 8221, 9 December 1895, Page 4

TARARU SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Special services in celebration of th« 23rd anniversary of the above Sunday School were held on Sunday in the Tnravu Church, which was most tastefully and beautifully decorated by a band of willing workers on Saturday afternoon. Some nine or ten boys showed "their interest in the school by obtaining a plentiful supply of nikau palms, wi;h which the frames of the doors and windows were relieved of their bare appearance, while variegated pampas grass was successfully employed to hide the stem of the nikau. Numerous wreaths made on frames kindly lent by Mr Battson were hung all round the building and the young lady wreath-makers are to be congratulated on the skill and taste displayed by them in the selection and arrangement of the flowers used. A large cross of white lilies and an anchor also attracted much notice The afternoon service was conducted by the Rev. J. Mackenzie and to say that the sitting accommodation was taxed to the utmost is no exaggeration. Taking as his text, Ezekiel 111, 9., " As. an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead," the rev. gentleman illustrated it by recounting the history of Origen, the "■Adamantine " who was a man of unflinching courage and set'his face like a flint and even as adamant against the evil of the days in which he lived, preaching Jesus Christ as thetrue Saviour, not only in Alexandria his birthplace, but later on in Casarea, when old, he suffered much persecution rather than deny his Lord and Master. The preacher made hisjdeductions from that illustration, and conveyed to his hearers several lessons which should be learnt. In the evening there was again a large attendance of parents, friends, and scholai*s, who listened most attentively to the Rev. VV. 11, Woolley, who. thanks to the kindness of the Rev. T. Bray, was able to undertake the sbnduct of the service, and once again place his Tararu friends under obligations to him. His text was John xil, verses 23 and 24, and the preacher argued that in these Greeks who wanted to see Jesus Christ saw the first fruits of the sacrifice he was about to accomplish, and just as " one swallow does not make a summer" but surely heralds its approach so did the enquiry of the Greeks herald to Christ the fulfilment of the promise that " the heathen should be given to him as an inheritance," and in conclusion pointed out the beauty of Christ's illustration "of the seed cast into the ground and dying that by its death it might bring forth much fruit. He prayed that Christ's death might bring forth much fruit in his heaiers,. leading them to sacrifice something for the sake of others. Our report must not conclude without a reference to the admirable way in which the children sang the selected hymns. We are sure that Mr Torrens must have been gratified at the success which has, for a third successive year, attended his efforts as conductor of music. Miss N. Wilson proved an efficient accom- [ panist. At the evening service the anthem " Fear thou not " was sung, the bass solo being taken by Mr T. Cantley. The collections at the two services amounted to £3 11s sd.