THE GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS AT CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1337, 25 January 1881, Page 2

THE GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS AT CAMBRIDGE.

The following is the text of the address delivered by /His Excellency the Hon. Arthur Gordon on the occasion of the laying the corner stone of the new S. Andrew's Church at Cambridge :—": — " We are here assembled to lay the foundation stone of a building for the Worship of Almighty God according to the rites and forms of the Reformed Church of England. That Church has put forth many branche3 ovev the whole e.uth. like the wild fief tree of these southern seas, which takes root ■wherever it touches the ground. The branches without severance from the parent tree become of themselves independent trees sending forth in their turn other branches of their own. There have been many of these branches of the parent church, but none more remarkable thiin that which has taken root in New Zealand. It is an offspring of which the mother church may well be proml. It has retained a hold upon a larger proportion of the population, of the Colony than has been the case in any colonial church in Her Majesty's dominions, and although the period of its history has been short, its bishops have been held in honour far beyond the Ausrlicin Communion. They have been men as zealous, as devoted, as pious, and piobably moie cultured than the clergy of any other Church similarly situated. Its laity, fiom all that; I can le.un, have exhibited a deep interest in the church upon all occasions. They have worked harmoniously with the clerical element., under an excellent system of government, which works with perfection, and without pioducing any of that disunion which occurs .sometimes in other similar bodies* This appears to me to be true uf the Chinch geneially in New Zealand ; but to come down to particulars, you in Cambridge give a fair pichitT iv miniature of the Chinch at lirge. Withm the last throe yeais you have, I am told, elected this into a separate parish ; paid off the dobt existing upon the old church ; built a pfir^ou;i<?o house, and fieed yourselves of all liabilities in that regard ; you have tipblod the contributions, and you have got together a congregation altogether to large for the present ohurch. You, therefore, have decided on the election of a now one, which .shall bo a building to do honor • r to the town, and which shall acoo mnodafe worshippers for many yi\us to come. In this you have done right. Loss might, perhaps, havo sufficed, but tliat wou'd not have ben lisjht. The effect of a good Church upon tlv> minds of the younsrer portion of tlie community is gie.it. We, who are older, need no such aids. Wo have bi ought with us the recollection of Old Country churches, the associations connected with which cannot fade, but our children have no such recollection, and for the .s.i tee of them you have clone wisely in acting" as }'ou h.ivi\ I renvmber once visiting a t'arm-hou c c in North America; it- was owned by people for whom I eufceifcun"<l tlve greatest respect. Everything hart gono well Avith thorn ; they hail fine held*, beautiful pasture-", <i good hou-c, iitid good children. I thought they h<id nothing to wish for, but they had. They told mo they wete in want of <i church. I -aid, " You smely have a Church Service, and the cleurymm of the pari.sh comos heie." He .'aid, "Oh yea, the clergyman comes, and wo luve prayers in the hchool-room. Wo do not mind it much, boc.niso we cm o.ill to mind the old church at home ; but the children have no such memories, and thsy aie growing up to be men and m omen without any of tho.su dc.ir associations which the old church created for us." I was never more .struck with the difference which such <i i ircumstance mv.st make. What we have seen to-day is» eminently satisfactory; but ono thinir is more satisfactory, and that is, the zeal which has animated the whole work. Thtre has been no narrowness of opinion exhibited — no .sectarian piejudices. I hare learned that many of those who have taken nn. interest iv this ceiemony, and who are here fco-day, aro members of religious commnnitieb other than the Church of England. This is a spirit which I rejoice to tliiuk is daily growing — a np\rit ot Christian tolerant o. We are getting to see that our faith, whatever ifc be, need not be held less firmly because it is held charitably. I look ujon the growth of tins spirit with hiti.stnotion, because I see in it ;i louturnitiou of the fact that, however impoit.mt may bo tho differences between ihe v<iriou.s sections of the Oinisti.m Church — md I, for one, am not going to undervalue their importance — they sire absolutely as nothing computed with tho difference which o\iht-i bet"\s'o A n the opinion o) tho-e •who bel\ovo in a leal, personal (rod, and those who would ssts s t up m Hi* place tho meihani'-al laws of niti.nl for<e-> — nn absMaot, idea of nioial vntues — or at best a GvoUot, who, having cicatccl, has abmdoned a[l caio, it }io ever lvid any, of hi* oie.iflm, le iviusj nature .v mere machine. This ih not tho Cod men need ! What B'iength c,<tn we expect fiom a *h idow ; whit hope from a machine. Mmueuds d livimr God, who can sustain him m the tint" 1 ot tcnptition and in grief. Ifc was for such .1 (}orl as this tb.it David was afhirst ; a livina: God with human sympathy an I a divine stivncjth tociiublu us to beir with pitience every biuden which wo have to bear. It is to Him we dedicate this building, m which ti Hun prayer and pi.iise will be oltoied up, Heie will His Word be pieachH, and His SaMiitnruts bo leceived iv tins huildmg, the corner htone of which t now dcclue to be well and tu\ly laid, in tbo mine of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen !"

A Stiuxgl C vse. — A well drf^ed and handsome l.uly recently aillod upon Chief Judge Neuron, of the Brooklyn City Court, and informed Mm that she hid KHnelhiug 1 of a sfci.mjfe and important eharact o r to communicate. ' I W43 bom I of respectable but n.ot wealthy parents ! in. Sweden, ' th,e lady faaid, ' and came to this counti y with nn aunt when but a cM'd in my youth I had a little companion, a boy, about two years my senior, whom Twas taught to regard as an orphan adopted by my parents. IJis name was different from ours. jVfy father died after J left home and mother married again. Then the companion of my youth came to America. Th© mooting between us waa m.ost happy and all the Iqvo a.nd affection q{ owr ch,ildi»h days wepe yonew-ed- Some time after he secured a good position and wo were married without the knowledge of our friends. Our married life was a most happy one, and indue time a beautiful baby was born to us. My mother came to America rather unexpectedly and called at tb,e house. Upon being informed Qf tny- marriage and the n.ame of ro,y ljnsbasjd $he expressed the utmost grief, and raade the startling announcement that I had married my brother.' Judge Neilson'e visitor was so overcome in relating the slory, that she sank back in her chair a.nd sobbed for Beyeral minutes. She was informed b,y his Honor th,at in the qgbt of neither Qod or man had she CQm,mi^ted a,t\y crim,e. T?aa ev^dendy the w-iah osf lioth, h,e said, that; they should, ce^se to Jive as m,au an,c\ wife, and. he wou^d tal^e tHe I proper steps to have the marriage de-. \ oUvei n'oU and void. The lady left atter, thaflkingh,iin in an earnest m,a,tnn,er. The ca^se was referred to youjßsal for se|tleinent. Th,e nara,ea of the parties ■ ar§ stre^vjonsiy v?ifcl|]xeld,-s^V. 7. tfcMti. \