ST. PETER'S CHURCH

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 151, 23 December 1929, Page 4

ST. PETER'S CHURCH

JUBILEE SERVICES

SERMON BY BISHOP SPROTT

• The preacher at the jubilee service of St. Peter's Church, Willis street, at evensong on Saturday was the Bishop of Wellington (the lit. l{ev. Dr. Sprott), wh.o I t-6ok as his text the words from Hebrews ; '13 eh., Bth verse, "Jesus Christ is the ! same yesterday and to-day, yea and forever." ! . A jubilee service, said Bishop Sprott, ; inevitably leads us to think of the past. . 'He did not think that God who made us . had bestowed a more mysterious gift upon lis than the wonderful gift of memory. It was one of those gifts by which our 1 nature far transcended the creatures about us. Not only had man tho natural gift of memory, but he also had the arti- . ficial memory bestowed by the records of ■ the past. The present jubilee service ! bade us recall the history of St. Peter's .Church for the past fifty years. It was not necessary that he should repeat all that history, for the facts had been admirably stated in an excellent booklet published by the Vicar in connection with the jubilee. As he read that story it occurred to him to. inquire what was the ■population of Wellington fifty years ago. He ascertained that it was 18,153 persons. "At that time there also existed the parish of St. Paul'E. The population in those yearly days could not have had a great •jfeal of wealth. One could not help reaiJising the faith, courage, and energy of the pioneers of the parish when they built ■6b fine a church as St. Peter's. Since ;then, many churches had been built, as the city grew, but none so large as St. Jeter's. The faith and courage of the of St. Peter's in those days 'deserved our admiration and gratitude. ■The speaker had had personal knowledge ,'oi the parish for a considerable number :p£ years, and he knew how' deeply atjtached to the church were the early ofliIcers and members of the congregation. ;His early knowledge enabled him to congratulate the church upon the clergy who tad served in it. The Yen. Archdeacon •.Stock and those who followed him were and keen in their work, and each one had; rendered his own distinctive contribution to the Christian life of the •church and parish; and' they were supjjorted by a keen and earnest body of workers, who showed strong devotion to 'St. Peter's. A jubilee service compelled us not only ■to look back to the past, but also to look .forward to the future. The centenary of 1 the parish would not be celebrated in the present building. The repairs recently effected, however, would enable the church ..to be used for a number of years to come. The growth of the city had caused n great change in the residential area, and _ Jiad resulted in the 'Creation of a number jof new parishes. The parish of St. Peter's ■hiid probably been more affected by the changed conditions than any other parish. " The present Vicar (the Rev. H. Wal,'.son) had manifested great foresight. He Tiad initiated two of the finest undertak- ■ ings which he (Bishop Sprott) had ever known to be done in a parish in New i Zealand. One was the initiation of the Endowment Fund, and the other was the 'initiation of a'fund for the rebuilding of • the church. The preacher referred to the .prevalence of religious indifference, and !said that history taught us that such .periods were followed by spiritual revivals. -.'■ The hymns and psalms sung at the service were the same as those sung at the •consecration o£ St. Peter's Church fifty years ago.