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CHURCH. 
This is a critical period for the Church ot New Zealand, 
and the Australian colonies as well. May their members look 
above for direction, and not trust in an arm of flesh, but solely 
lean on the arm of the Lord. With the Bible in hand, may 
they invoke the aid of the Holy Spirit, and in lull confidence 
look to the Great Head of the Church to direct and lead them 
to carry it on, according to His good will and pleasure, so as 
best to accomplish the great purpose which must never be lost 
sight of—the establishment of Christ’s universal kingdom on 
earth. 
The Church in the colonies, it must be remembered and 
acknowledged, does not exclusively belong to the Church of 
England. Men of all denominations and creeds flock to those 
newly-founded communities; colonial society, therefore, is 
formed of every shade of religion. 
It becomes, then, a deeply important inquiry, Shall all the 
differences of the old country be perpetuated in these new 
ones? Shall these little rising communities be split into all 
those religious factions which separate the Church at home ? 
Is it desirable ? Is it consonant with Christian love and unity ? 
Is it calculated to promote the spread of our common faith, and 
the establishment of the Church Universal? It cannot be. 
Why then attempt it ? In doing so, we only transport to the 
colonies the worst part of our faith ; we destroy the kernel, 
love and unity, which alone possesses the germ of vitality, 
and content ourselves with carrying off the worthless husks 
of our Christianity—our divisions and hatreds—to these our 
adopted homes. How can we expect that such will flourish ? 
But is it necessary ? Shall we of the Church of England be 
satisfied with being only one of the many petty sects, and 
shall they of those sects be content to transport all the ani¬ 
mosities, heart burnings, bitterness, and separations of the 
old country ? God forbid,—it is not, cannot be necessary; it 
is contrary to reason, love, and Christianity. 
But further : it is very seldom that men carry away all the 
bitterness and exclusive feelings of the fatherland; as they 
mix with persons of the other classes, they gradually become 
softened, asperities are rubbed down, and each soon begin to 
