G.F.S. DIAMOND JUBILEE.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 25, Issue 12, 1 December 1935, Page 1

G.F.S. DIAMOND JUBILEE.

ANNUAL DIOCESAN FESTIVAL SERMON AT ST. MATTHEW'S On Wednesday evening, 30th October, 1935, the annual diocesan, festival of the Girls' Friendly Society was celebrated, the occasion being a very special one, as this is the year of the G.F.S. diamond jubilee. There were present about 70 associates, members and friends, and the gathering was a most pleasant one. Canon Mortimer-Jones conducted the service in St. Matthew's Church, keeping very much to the solemn service of thanksgiving and re-dedication as given in Westminster Abbey on June. 27, when. the diamond jubilee was celebrated in London. He also read the sermon preached by the Archbishop of York, Dr. Temple, saying: — "We ar'e giving thanks for service rendered and witness borne during 60 years by the Girls' Friendly Society. Our thanksgiving, like all Christian thanksgiving, must first take our minds back — to the memory of the foundress and those who were immediately associated with her — to all those who. through these 60 years, have given faithful service. "It is the pure in heart who see God, and it is the vision of God that gives us purity of heart. Are we not then shut up into a 'vicious' circle?

To put the same point in the language of ■ two mystical sayings: 'We become what we see,' and 'We see what we are.' And then it is asked, 'How are we to grow if we only see what we are already, and can only become that which we see? Are we not condemned to stay for ever in whatever state we find ourselves to./ be?' That would be so if our whole life were conducted always upon the same level — if we- were, in fact, fully formed characters, with no divergencies of interests or hopes. But it is not so. By the use of our best moments and by putting our utmost into the development of the best elements in our own nature, we become more capable of beholding, and through that vision acquire a more perfect purity of heart, through which, again, we receive the vision in still fuller measure. . "There is a false turning that can be taken in supposing that we become more spiritual as we neglect that which is material. It is the- error of all the great Eastern religions, but Christianity will have none of it, for it teaches that that is the more spiritual which exhibits itself in the most perfect control of the material. Within the central words of the Gospel itself is the proclamation that 'The Word has made flesh'; and the purity of heart which is the counterpart of the vision of the glory of God must show itself, not in neglect of the body or lack of care as to what may become of it, but in the making of it the most perfect instrument that it can be for the service of God. 'Know ye not that your body is the tempic of the Holy Ghost?' "And so we are thinking to-day of a trio of great thoughts— the holiness of God, the purity of human life, and friendship based upon that purity when understood as associated with that holiness. And for this reason the directly spiritual basis of this society is fundamental. It will lose all this character if ever it yields to the temptation to become chiefly a social agency for the promotion indeed of moral ideals, but without worship and constant dependence upon God .for the strength with which these ideals are to be made actual. But if the Society holds these three thoughts firmly together, each bound up with the other — human friendship, purity of life, holiness— then it will form a regiment

in the army which follows the Word of God as He goes forth conquering and to conquer; its witness will be powerful, its achievements will be glorious, and it will have upon it the manifest marks ofthe blessing of God, as in the past, so even more abundantly in the days to which in our self-dedica-tion Kere we look forward." During the service very beautiful music was played by Mr R. Warwick. A social gathering was later held in the hall, when the visitors from Napier were entertained. Before departing, Miss White, the diocesan secretary, returned thanks to the Hastings members.