JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOUNDING OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH CONSTITUTION BY BISHOP SELWYN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 25, 22 June 1907, Page 12

JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE FOUNDING OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH CONSTITUTION BY BISHOP SELWYN.

On June 13, 1857. the constitution <>i the \ngli(*an Shun-h of t lie Province oi w Ze.d.uitl w.i- -igmM in St. Stephen’-, • Impel. I .mi am.i. P.umll. at a conference comprising tin* two bishop* of th, < linrcli. eight clergy, ami -even representative laity. Previous to the signing "• t iis constitution, t iie government oi the ( iiiu.h in this colony had been for a I' lig time in a somewh.it chaotic stale tne Bishop «»f ( hrist (hiiirh being at oar time subject, not to Bishop of Selwyn of Xew Zealan I. but to the see of Sydney. >e\eial attempts had been made to or g.inise the infant ('lunch throughout the colony. Bishop Selwyn. when he first arriv«*d in 1842. having brought out letters patent" with a wax impression of the Great Seal of Engl.nd attached I lies,, •‘letters patent" conveyed to the new bishop the authority of lier Majesty the Queen, empowering him to rule the ( huicli in the young eolony. and to appoint such oflicials archdeacons, vicarsgeneral. apparitors, and others- as were considered necessary in the Homeland ~’ i the due exercise of episcopal power. But although tins investment of authority was agi’ceable enough to the bishop, who was something of an autocrat by nature. J*‘l *"’t appeal to the unconventional notions of the young colonial community, not incl.ned to much arbitrariness of government. Most of the clergy, moreover. were missionaries to the Maoris. - e, it out by the Church Missionary Society. whicn was by no means willing to give up the control of the agents "J"” 11 paid and supported. So the bi*hop. who had never really pressed the Bova I authority, decMed to set his reliamc more upon the authority of Chris--1 *- H| principle than upon parchment. l s l~l and lS4i Bishop Selwyn sum-inon.-d -vnod- uI , norilieni clergc. vvliirh lie tried to weld tugellier thuswho acted as missionaries to the Maoris and those who miiii-t. red to 1 ll ‘* u ‘‘iie populat ion. But high aath.iri lie- cen-iue.l these -ynods as illegal. What were things eoming to if the clergy were to be allow.-I Io have a '"ice in the maiiageinciii of the Church? Bi-hop Sc|w vn. how.'Ver. went -tcmhlv "•1. 11l- Irifiid. Mr. (<1 ul-i one. vva--1 hen ( olon il Secretary, and gave him his svnipataetic -upp.ut. Xo mo.r clerical synods were hell, but the Bishop wa~ revolving in his mind even greater 1 hin--. lb* would invite no. only the '•i<-rgv . Inn the laity . t o s i.ii'e his authority. He would trust the grovviii'2 < hiirch of Xew Zealand to govern it-elf. In 1852 a civil const tu.um was uranted to the colony, and Ihe idea of con-tit lit-ion il 2> > v'. • r 11.11 e: 11 in the ( hiirch received a big impetus. |or l ‘ii years the Bi-liop worked hard at educating the pu blip. Hr lie Id meet ings a i all hlchief centre-. \t Xml da id an I Wei limjton. at Xclson and Xew Plymouth, at l.vllelion and ( h r .st c'a u rcii and Dunedin, t lie -e: tiers di-<-u--ed the new -.heme. M.inv thing- had to be accom-pli-lie.l. however, in preparing the way for -ueli an innovation, while to add to the dillieidi ie- trouble broke out with the Maori-. But at last in 1856. Bishop llarix i landed in Xew Zealand. and with

’"““e clear, the signatures being finally affixed in the following year. this constitution, by which the Church 111 the colony is governed by general and diocesan synods, consisting of bishops clergy, and laity, is still in force practically as it was drawn up in 1857. There are several restrictions in it which at the present time are considered to be somewhat galling—sueh, for instance, are certain provisions placing the Praver Book itself outside the power of the (■eneral Synod, and others binding the Eeu Zealand C hurch to make no changes m the rubrics unless they should have been Hist authorised by Crown and-con-vocation in England. But the fear of change was strong in 1857. and without such precautions the constitution would not have been agreed to. In connection with Bishop Selwyn’s efforts to reduce chaos to order in the affairs of the church in New Zealand. Air. Janies Burtt, in his pamphlet, "Reminiscences of Bishop Selwyn,” relates much that is extremely interesting. I he celebration of the jubilee was held on Thursday in various Anglican churches This morning, at eleven o'clock. Huh Communion was celebrated by the Bishop at St. Stephen's Chapel, to which the living representatives of the Church’s-

early pioneers were invited. A guard of honour was formed to the doors by the boys of St. Stephen’s native school, in recognition of the fact that the boys of St. Stephen’s had in the early days assisted in the work connected with the building of the chapel. During the service the Bishop delivered an address,

taking the text of his remarks from the eighty-fourth Psalm, ver-e six. In the course of it he appealed to the memories of his hearers to supply the chain of historic events that had built the Church up to its present flourishing state from what it was when, on .hu> • 13. 18.57, the constitution was signed in that same building.