THE CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8953, 12 June 1907, Page 4

THE CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND.

,/ÜBILEE OF THE CONSTITUTION. CELEBRATED TO-MORROW. CANON HASELDEN.) To-morrow there will be celebrated the jubilee ot the fiftieth anniversary oi the day upen wi:ioh the constitution of tho Church of the Province of Now Zealand was put forth by the confareneo of bishops, clergy aaid laity held, at St Stephen's Chapel, Judge's Bay, Parnell, Auckland. To understand the jubilee we must know fcOmething of the events of the fifty years previous to 1557; and to appreciate the observance of the jubilee we must know something of the events of the fifty years -since 1H57. Just one hundred . yeairs ago, that is, in- 18lii* r tihe* i: ReV ■Samuel Marsden, the chaplain of the convict station in New South* iWales, went Home to England arid l told the Church Missionary Society, of the bright, intelligent Maoris of New Zealand, who came to Syduey in whaling ships, and in whose welfare be had already taken a deep interest. He persuaded the Church Missionary Society to send missionaries here. Marsden thought at that time that the only way to Christianise the Maoris was by introducing some of the useful arts among them. Accordingly, two good men, Mr William Hall, a shipbuilder, and Mr John King, who was acquainted with .flax-dressing and agriculture, were appointed as Cateehists; and they sailed in 1807, with Marsden, for Sydney. , Among the crew was the Maori chief, Ruatara, who became the great friend and helper of the missionaries. After Marsden's arrival at Sydney he found that difficulties and delays had to be overcome before he could fo to New Zealand, and so he sent It Hall and a Mr Kendall, who had joined the mission, without him. They stayed a short time at the Bay of Islands, and then returned to Sydney, taking Ruatara and five other ahlefs with them. At last, seven years after Mareden's visit to England, MaTsden, Hall, King ana ; Kendall arrived in the brig Active, and on Christmas Day, 1814, Mairsdeai preached the Gospel in Ruatare's village, on the spot which is now marked by the Marsden Cross. ; Soon after he returned to Sydney and \ left the * three catechists at their work. ; : In 1819 the Rev John Butler and Mr Kemp arrived, and established the mis- j aidnory settlement at Kerikeri. But the missionaries became so disheartened that they actually advised the giving up of t3ie mission altogether. This would most probably have been clone, but the Rev Henry Williams arrived in 1823, and this truly great man hecame at once the leader of the mission party, and was acknowledged ..by the Maoris to be a real chief. In 1826 the Rev William Williams, .who became one of the best Maori sohclars, and was afterwards Bishop of . .Waijpu arrived in the colony. In 1833 Bishop Broughton, first "bishop of Australia, paid a visit to New Zealand, and Mr Hadfield, afterwards Bistxp of Wellington, was ordained. Sev«-al years previously there had arri?«d the- Rev Br Maunsell, afterwards A-chdeacon. of Auckland. ( 2he mission to the Maoris now fe .'arished, and the Maoris were Christians. . In 1842 Bishop Selwyn, the great roaster-builder of the Church in this land ? came" to Auckland, and the Maori mission ctmtin<ued to flourish, and a large white population to settle in the country. The missionaries had no official position with the white settlers', and Bishop Selwyn had to organise servr*2S and lay the foundation of the GLurcb of New Zealand. His headquarters were in Auckland, from w* <jnce he travelled all over New Zealanl, and even to Melanesia. In 1855 the Rev J. C. Patteson came land in 1861 was consecrated Bishop of Melanesia. In 1856 Bishop Harper was elected Bishop of .Christchurch. In the ?ear 1857 there were two bishops in few Zealand, Selwyn and Harper, and the Church was organised and many churches were erected, and all the spiritual work of the Church, was going on very well. Five years before this public meetings had been held in all the settlements of Kew Zealand to consider the " General principles of a Constitution for the .Church in New Zealand," and, after years of prayer, thought, research and consultation, on June 13, 1857, the conference assembled at St Stephen s, Judge* Bay, Parnell. It consisted of Selwyn (Bishop of New Zealand), HarEu* (Biehop of Christchurch), and Revs enry Williams, William Williams, R. B Paul. A. N. Brown, O. Hadfield, C. J. Abraham, G. A. Kissling and J. Wilson and the laity, Messrs Stafford, ' Whitafeer, Tancred, Swainson, Haultain, Prendergast and Hirst. It put forth the constitution, and solemnly declared and established certain great principles and provisions for the ruling and guidance of this Church of the 'Anglican Communion. / We will commemorate the jubilee of .this important and widely extending jevent to-morrow. 1 I wish here to mention leading events since that great occasion. In 1859 the ' first general Synod was held, and met in Wellington. Since then the general Synod has met every, three years, and on some special occasions. The Diocesan Synods have met every year. Tho dreadful Maori war of 1861-62 did unspeakable harm to the Maori mission, the effects of which are felt to the present day. But the Church grew on and increased. In 1841 the diocese of New Zealand was constituted by authority in England. Jn 1856 & portion of it was constituted by the Church, here, as the diocese of Christchurch. The other dicceees ;were constituted in the following order : --Nelson, 1857; Wellington, 1858; Vaiapu, 1859; Melanesia, 1861; and i unedin, 1868. • ' It was in October j IS6B, that Bishop Selwyn left New Zealand for the last time, .and what remained of the diocese of New fcealand after Christchurch, ?Nelson, Wellington, Waiapu, Melanesia and Dunedin had been cut off was, in 1869, constituted as the diocese of Auckland, and Bishop Corvie was electad bishop. The work of God has grown and

spread, all over New Zealand. It has had its disappointments, its throwbacks its almost failures. When g.od work has been going on steadily, and as fast as was consistent with healthy growth, it has 'been, stopped to try some new method, with the result that the work has been hampered, progress delayed, and the toilers for the Church's good have experienced heartache for the work ' they so much loved. When we think of the marvellous, growth and the wonderful prosperity of the colony, we may be doubtful if I the work of the Church has been in i proportion. But the fact remains that I to-day we have grand churches, excelr lent parish halls, and commodious vicarages ; that we count our oomniuni- ! cants by thousands, and that to-day we aye members of a Church which has a splendid constitution and an organisation which is unrivalled for excellence in the Anglican Communion throughout the world, and our Church laws and regulations are being copied by our brethren even in the Church of England and in many other parts of the world. In the general Synod of Brisbane, Bishop Frodsham, oiie of the ablest bishops and men in the Southern Hemisphere, spoke of the Church of New Zealand as "the best organised Church in the Anglican Communion throughout the world." We have a right to be proud of it. Master-builders in the service of God laid its foundations, and men of the highest character and attainments have laboured upon the structure. Its constitution declares and establishes tnat we must hold and maintain the doctrine and sacnamente of Christ as received by the Church in England, and we have no power to make any alteration in the authorised revision of the Bible until the same has been accepted by the Church in England. It provides that the General Syncd shall be a governing body, and every act of the General Synod must have the consent of a majority of the bishops, the clergy and the laity before it can become law. It lays down what >ye call thirty-two provisions for the order and guidance of the Church, and they are wise and 'good provisions. They have stood fifty years, and it looks as if they were going to 6tand, with such slight alterations ac are of small moment, for many a. fifty 3^ears to come. Our heritage is a noble one, our history is inspiring, our outlook is full of hope. We stop for a brief span in our work and look back to the efforts of tho noble labourers on. one memorable day fifty years ago. We have arrived at our jubilee year. It is proposed to commemorate June 13, 1857, on June 13, 1897, by (1) special celebrations of the Holy Communion; (2) by a public meeting at which speeches will be delivered on the early history of the Church and the early national life ; (3) by gatherings of children in the parish halls of the different parishes, when illustrated lectures thall be given ; (4) by special services to be held on Sunday, June 16, at which special sermons on the jubilee will be preached; (5) by making offerings of money at the services and meetings, which offerings will be for wo.nien's work in the mission field. These offerings are to form part of the thanksgiving offering from the whole of New Zealand, which it is proposed to present on tne Holy Table in St Paul's Cathedral, London, at the Pan-Angli-can service, on June 24, 1908. Towards this thank-offering every Church person in New Zealand will have an opportunity during the next twelve months of contributing. At the Pan-Anglican Congress every bishop who possibly can will be present. It will come immediately before the Lamboth Conference, which is held every ten years.