THE WELLINGTON CATHEDRAL.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2372, 7 June 1866, Page 5

THE WELLINGTON CATHEDRAL.

OPENING OF THE BUILDING. The ceremony of consecrating St. Paul's Church, Thorndon, and the Wellington Cathedral, took place yesterday forenoon. Shortly before 10 o'clock his Excellency the Governor accompanied by his staffandJ. Croeroft "Wilson, Esq., C.8., arrived and i crowds of citizens from Thorndon, Lambton, and Te Aro hastened to the church. At 11 o'clock the Right Rev. the Bishop of the dioce3o accompanied by Archdeacon Hadfield, the Rev. A. Stock, of i St. Peter's, the Rer. P. Hay Maxwell, of St. i Paul's, and the Eevs. St. Hill, Fancourt, Desßoi. 0 , and Abraham entered the enclosure surrounding | theChnrchandwere receive 1 by thechurchwardens, i trustees, and other officers of the building. Accompanied by theso gentlemen, the Bishop entered the Church by the centro aisle, and the choir, which was made up of the best singers in the town, sang Psalm XXIV, Mr. Russell playing an accompaniment on the harmonium. The bishop then read (he usual order of prayers for consecrating a church, and signed the accustomed certificate giving over the 'Cathedral as consecrated to the Hon. R. Stokes and G. Ilart, Esq., for the building committee The usual service of the Church of England was then performed by the Rev. P. Hay Maxwell, and the Bishop delivered the following address : — ■ Psalm xi/v., 14. " The King's daughter is all glorious witliin ; her clothing is of wrought gold." The Church of Christ is the daughter of the Great King, the Living God — and the Psalmist says in the text, that her chief gloi'y is her inner grace of holiness to the Lord — but 'that her very clothing, her outward garb will correspond in some degree with her inner life, and be the result and product of much care and thought, and still, that her clothing will not merely be gold, but of wrought gold. Brethren, — The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is — the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein. Never does the Psalmist allow us to forget that if the heavens declare the glory of God, and if the firmament sheweth His j handiwork — still more emphatically the men j whom He has created, and the immortal souls lie lias made for His pleasure, are His great and chief work — that the law of the Lord is an undcfilod law, converting the soul — that the testimony of the Lord is sure, and giveth wisdom unto the j simple. If the Psalmist says that the earth is the Lord's, much more (ho reminds us) are they that dwell therein His delight and His joy ; and so, if ho had devoted much thought and labor and means in preparing a Temple of the Lord to dwell in ; if lie felt that it was pain and grief to him to live in a palace of cedar, while the Lord's ark had only re tabernacle and hangings of tapestry to shelter it ; if he felt that the clothing of the Tabernacle should be of wrought gold — his first and last thought was, that the true glory of the Church of God consisted in her life of purity, holiness, faith, and love. " The King's daughter is all glorious within." — that is the main essential glory of the Church ; and then if it bo possible, if circumstances allow of it, let her outer clothing be of wrought gold. Brethren, — There are two special characters in which God has revealed Himself to vs — ono is the leading idea of last Sunday's cpisllc — " God is Love." In this was manifested the love of God towards up, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live tlu'ough Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, — If God so loved us, wo ought also to love one another — and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwclleth in love dwelleih in God, and God in him. That is God's best and most winning name as addressed to us sinners. But besido that touching name, there is another that is akin to it, and without which neither God nor man could really love ; and when the veil of heaven wus drawn aside before the eyes of Isaiah aiid St. John the Divine, when they were al!ow.ed to see tho King in His beauty, and His glory, they beheld Him seated on His throne high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Abore it stood the Seraplums ; each ono had six wings. With twain ho covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly ; and one cried to another and said, Holy ! Holy ! Holy ! is tho Lord of Hosts— r and straightway tho angelic song is taken up on earth, and " the Holy Church throughout all the world doth praise Thee O God, and acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship Thee, tho Father everlasting. To Thee all Angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein. To Tlico Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy ! Holy ! Holy ! Lord of God of Sabaolh. Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy Glory." Such is the song of angels and men. Their harmonious tongues never rest day and night, gayiujr, Holy is (.ho Lord. Love and holiness aro God's special names. Love and holiness must bo tho inner beauty of the Church. Tho King's daughter must be all glorious within as Ho is love — pure as He is pure — holy as Ho is holy. And then, my dear brethren, if we can make her outer clothing of wrought gold, if wo can make the body tho image and expression of the soul within, surely we not only may, but must. The outer form is tho expression of the life within. Though our blessed Lord was on the day of His

great agony and trial and bitter passion marred land without beauty, yot the Church haa ever ! loved to portray Hia features as the most perfect expression of human beauty in its diviner eloments of love, patience, calmness, trust, and meekness — and so is if; even true of His Church. These need no outer building to meet the eye in order to fulfil its truest communion with God. God is in the midst of her, Christ, r.nd the Holy Spirit, and angels and souls. Are not these a heavenly court, to which really this world can add nothing ? i And yet no one can on the other hand deny the appropriate csb of a ceremonial and » building , expressive of our love to God, and our senso of the blessedness of being allowed to dedicate our best to His service. " The earth is the Lord's," and he came to claim it all as His own, to destroy the usurped dominion of the enemy, and assert His rights as master. The kingdom of this world will become the kingdoms of the Lord. He came | into tho world, and He had not a place on earth to lay His head ; but tho glory of heaven shone I round about him, and angels sang hyms—Hallelujahs. He had no retinue of His own people ; bub a star lightened Eastern Tisitants to His cradle. He was an hungered ..and a thirst, but angels came and ministered to him, and He made five barley loaves suffice to feed thousands. He had no crown of gc Id, but He wore a crown of thorns, and His enemies cried out, " Behold the King." He had no throne like mortal Prince, but His cross was His throne, and to it He Ims drawn all men, and from it He has looked down in pity on mankind, and h»3 given laws to the world. Pass on a few generations, and the earth is covered with His temples — you will find the everlasting hills hewn and fashioned into shrines, where he, who was an outcast in the days of this flesh may set His name and His cross. Go through tho countries where His name is adored, ■and you will find all that is rarest and most wonderful in nature or iv art consecrated to Him. The mist of the early morning has melted away, the sun has shone forth in his glory and lit up the dull cold earth. Tho sun of righteousness hath cheered and warmed tho world bolow. The special work of the Church in our day seems to be to claim all nature, animate and inanimate for God, to claim all men's noblest powers of body, soul and spirit, for the service of Christ. The struggle that lasted so long between the external world and the iixner life is abandoned. Men do not now hold all matter and material substances to bo evil, have not learnedfrom the gospel of Christ that we are to exterminate nature, but to sanctify it. Christ took not upon Him tile nature of Angels. Ho did not create a new nature, because ours had fallen, but He took the seed of our nature upon Himself without its sinfulnuss, and purified it by His Incarnation. Our bodies are not to be deadened but to be sanctified. Wherefore, glorify God in your bodies, and your spirits which are His. Nature and art are not to be exorcised as evil spirits, but they are to be brought into subjection to their proper Lord and Master. Thus we sanctify all days by setting specially apart one in seven as a first-fruits and thanks offering of the whole to the Lord. Tims we sanctify all innocent pleasures and necessary nienls to the Lord, by obeying His command to attend His feast of love, and refresh and strengthen our souls with Hiß great love as our bodies are by tho bread and wine. . Thus wo make our own homes the scene of comfort and happiness by dedicating one special house to God's honor and worship. We have not so learnt tho truth as it is in Jesus, as to suppose that we shall serve Him better every day, if we give up serving Him specially in one — that we. shall make our own homes more pure, if wo exclude Christ from having one set apart for reverence and adoration, where all (he members of hia Spiritual Family may meet Him and one another. We do not think that wo shall make a better use of the silver and gold, the generous gifts of bounteous nature, if we selfishly reserve them for our own use, and restrict the service of the Giver of thcae gifts to tho meanest possible products of man*' ignorance. No doubt with ignorant and superstitious minds, tho reverential use of external forms and ceremonials may degenerato into idolatry. The learned may draw fine and aerial distinctions between objects of reverence, and objects of adoration. But the indieerimmating piety of the ignorant disregards such subtleties. There is no denying that when the teaching of tho Church and tho practice of the people unite in enconrnging a superstitions belief in images, or pictures, or relics as possessing Borne charm, as if the miraculous iilluence dwelt therein tl o i a grosss and unspiritual idolitry is tho result. But when the teaching of the Church and (he mindsof thepeopleuniteinresistingand repudiating any such materialistic worship, do we mean that p:ire and spiritual Christianity must be irreconeiloably hostile to the fine arts ? Is that, influence of tho nvijcstic and the beautiful which is awakened through the senses by form, by color, by expression, altogether to be abandoned by the Church of God ? Can the purification of the human soul, through art, in no way be allied with Christian truth and devotion ? Is that aid to the realising of the historic truths of ouv religion by representatives almost speaking and alive, to be prevented ? Tiie answer to these questions lias been tacitly accepted in our own branch of the Church, which is both Protestant and Catholic. The fine arts are daily obtaining greater admiration and greater influence, and the Church lias not forbidden them the noblest field for their development. Because, paradoxical as it may appear, we have learnt the greater perfection in the arts themselves, and a finer perception and appreciation of that perfection by an enlightened people, are safeguards against superstition nnd idolatry. It is a known fact, that more direct idolatry is paid to the rough and illshaprn imngo, clothed in gaudy and tinsel ornaments, than to the noblest ideal statue, or a picture of the Holy Family by one of the first masters of art. The superstition requires tho gross images, rather than the images produce the superstition. The ruder the art, the more intense the supers! ition. Wherefore, we conclude, that the growing intelligence of tho civilised world, and a finer perception of the beautiful and chaste in art, and, above all, a greater familiarity with the JToly Scriptures, have worked and will work this sacred reconciliation between true devotion and refined art. And Christ will assert by himself, all the highest powers of humanity. The spirit then, my dear brethren, in which this Church wo have this day consecrated, has been built and adorned, is in necovdanco with tho language of the text. We have desired to make the clothing of wrought gold, to devoto to tho service of God tho best fruits of skill and art wo could produce ; because we thought that by this menus we may more and more lead people to tho conviction, that the King's daughter must be first of all, " glorious within." This Church, in which wo hope to worship God henceforth, is tho moral result of past prayer and self-denial, and will again lead to moral and spiritual results, in tho increased devotion and piety of our people, as there will be more room for our parishioners, and the poor may have tho gospel preached to them ; for there will be upwards of 100 seats, diocesan or parochial, that will be free. I say then, with much thankfulness, that this Church is a moral result — built almost entirely with oiu 1 own means, designed by the talent and worked out by theekillof our own brethren. Tho architect belongs to tho sacred order of the priesthood, who served well and faithfully hero for the salvation of souls. Would that lie were here amongst us this day, as he is in spirit nnd communion. This isiias much the result and product of his faithful ministration as of his designing skill, and as what wo see is the result of tho past, so we hope that what remains to be done for tho completion of the building, the decoration and consecration of the grounds, the perfection of the' Church as a whole, ! will be the first fruits of this service of ours, ajd

„ ," •'^'cation to tho glory of God. Lift up youi V r,l b^ *<« in your deed* of almsg!VXely yWvc/of old now i, i, voiu privilege to give. In our n^ive land, we fiwty enjoyed the cathedrals and c lm^>«nu6ccl by on* forefathers. Now is our day. No ;» wo may learn practically that it is more blessed to gi?e than to receive. 'Let our Lord but say of each of you what he said of the woman that broke the box of pure and precious ointment for His use, " $Tno hath done what blic could." Let us those things in mem cry of the pre^oua death Imcl burial of our dear Lord ; p;;,^ co we shall, find, to our eternal comfort, '^nafc by making bur Chuvch and " clothing of wrought gold,' we insy. realise tho truth in our own hearts, that holiness still more becometh His House, and that the King's daughter is " all glorious within." A collection was then made and £48 6s. Id. collected, after which, those who did not partake of£the sacranient were dismissed jvith the usual benediction.