New Vicar of Ormondville.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume III, Issue 9, 1 March 1913, Page 144

New Vicar of Ormondville.

The Bishop of the Diocese instituted the Rev. Thomas Fisher as Vicar of Ormondville on the evening of Ash ■ Wednesday, m succession to the Rev. M. Coc'kerill, who is now acting as locum tenens at Waipawa. The Service of Institution as authorised for use m the Diocese was used. The Churchwardens and Vestrymen lined the chancel on either side, and the Vicar-elect knelt at the altar-rail. Mr. Fothergill, Churchwarden, duly recognised Mr. Fisher as Vicar of the Parish by presenting him solemnly with the keys of the Church, schoolroom, and vicarage, and the Vicar m reply promised to be a faithful •shepherd to the people committed to his care. Mr. Fisher subsequently received his solemn commission and charge from the Bishop, who handed to him his license, and blessed him. The newly appointed Vicar at once proceeded with part of the Commination Service, and hymns suitable to the occasion and to the solemnity of the day were sung. The Bishop preached from I. Timothy 111., 14— "That thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves m the House of God, which is the Church of the I/Lying God, the pillar and ground of the truth." The first part of the sermon was a sketch of the history of religion m Britain up to the time of the great Archbishop Theodore, who consolidated the various Christian missions m the Heptarchy and organised the parochial system m the Church of England at the end of the 7th Century. The Bishop also sketched briefly the continuity of the Church of England through Saxon, Norman, and Mediaeval days up to and through the Commonwealth, the Georgian period, and on to the present day. "Surely," said the Bishop, "when we think of the struggles and chequered history of the Church of England, of its continuity and con-

stant, endeavour to uphold its rightful position as . the Holy Catholic Church m England,, of its many and varied and successful attempts to resist foreign oppression, and of the fact that, the. Cnurch of. England has always maintained the unity for which Jesus Christ prayed, and has never separated from any other part of the Church, we cannot but believe that God the Holy Spirit has guided the Church of England and ncr long history because it is the will of the Eternal Father. that she should be the nursing mother of ,the British people, the spiritual Home of the English - speaking race." The Bishop then applied the lessons of history to the position of the Church and the Parish Priests at the present day. The Church of the Province of New Zealand was one m doctrine with the .Church of England, and of course with the primitive and Apostolic Church of .the earliest a nd purest ages of Christianity, and therefore a Parish Priest was not a iree lance, an independent minister, but a link m the great chain of witnesses, a minister and steward, and therefore a faithful dispenser of God's Holy Word and Sacraments as interpreted by the Prayer-Book. Behind him and his teaching was the long history of the "Ecclesia Anglicana," with its noble roll of martyrs and confessors. "Compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses." The Parishioners must help him, and expect him to be< loyal to the teaching which he was pledged to teach and uphold, and not imagine that he could teach his own views merely, or withhold from them the whole counsel of God. Further, although Churchmen believed m the promise of Jesus to. send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into all the truth, and believed that the Church organised herself under the direct guidance of the Spirit', and therefore knew that Infant Baptism, Confirmation, the observance of the first day of the week as the day of worship, and the threefold order of the Ministry, were the outcome of the Spirit's guidance, yet they were keenly alive to the fact that the Holy Spirit m these days is still unveiling the meaning of God's truth and the methods of God's working. Such being the case, how necessary it was for the Parish Priest to. have itime and opportunities for study.

It was very easy to criticise sermons,^ but it was hardly fair if parishioners withheld from their Vicar the necessary time for systematic reading- by expecting him /to attend to every petty detail of parochial work which might well be done by the lay people. The lay people had very distinct duties to their clergy, and surely prayer and sympathy were needed first of all. The times were difficult for the clergy, and the worldly spirit pervaded everything, reaching sometimes to the very sanctuary of God, for was not a Parish Priest sometimes judged by the capacity for filling the Parish coffers than by the faithfulness to Jesus Christ and loyalty to the teaching of the Church ? "Take heed how ye hear," was another aspect of the sermon question which was sometimes overlooked, and it was well to remember that no congregation had a monopoly of sincerity and spiritual insight, and although there were differences of administrations, yet ', there was only the one Spirit." ( To the new Vicar, the Bishop said, "Remember that you are a 'man of God,' and must always be i a man of God wherever you are *i and whatever you are doing. You 1 can never be off duty ; you can j never cease to* be the watchman i and messenger of the Lord. Your 1 ministry is linked on to the minis- < try of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 3 therefore you need constantly to 1 sit at His feet and learn of Him. ] Don't neglect your own soul or ] your own devotional study of Holy c Scripture, for a man's minsitry i carries conviction to the hearts of 1 his fellowmen when his life carries : conviction first and when his dv- ' ties are done m the spirit of Jesus Christ. "Let this mind be m you i which was also m Jesus Christ." I To-day you are sent out with } the Church's commission to be a * faithful Pastor and Shepherd under the Chief Shepherd. Spend and be f spent, be not weary m well-doing, i and look for your own rest and -t refreshment m the Paradise of God when your labours are ended. s " There was a good congregation a at the, service, and the offerings * were devoted towards the fund for E . = ■ ■ . • -. ■ ■ c giving a "Waiapu Motor Boat" to tjie Melanesia^ Mission. f(