Welsh Journals

Etw^stli 3>eanen> /Ilbaga3tne. Vol. 2. APRIL, 1894. No. 16. LLANIDLOES. One more Easter, with its preceding Holy Week, lies behind us to be counted among occasions for good §rasped and utilized, or opportunities wasted, as the may be. On the whole the retrospect is dis- unting, though there are various matters in which an improvement upon last year was apparent. The Holy Week services were, as a rule, fairly attended, but on Tuesday there was no one present to enable the °lergy to have a celebration. The average attendance °& the first three days at Evensong was about tbirty— ^Uch less than it ought to be, but a considerable advance on last year. On Thursday we expected to See a large number of communicants present to hear ^hat the Vicar had to say about the Guild, if only *rom motives of curiosity, but the congregation num¬ bered only twTenty-eight (of whom, by the way, some at *east were children or non-communicants). This was ^stinctly disappointing and disheartening to the Vicar, specially as we know many wrong notions exist as J° what he wants the Guild to be, which would have been found to be groundless, if those wbo have con¬ demned the project without examination had come to • ®&r him expound his views on the subject. Those who clicl hear him were for the most part pleased, and 6 hope they will bring friends with them to the next meeting, when he will summarize what he then said 6*ore his address. He prophesied the Guild would be Power for good at Llanidloes, and if the first members 1a^ry °ut the spirit of the thing truly in their lives we eiieve it will be so. The second disappointment ^ the attendance at the Three Hours Service, *Uch was little, if any better than the two previous , ^rs. Our Vicar may be a very tolerable preacher, w ,l l* would be absurd to compare him with Mr. Gent, 6^° is a polished and practised speaker of wide experi- ce,and is gladly welcomed as a conductor of the ser¬ vice in leading London churches. Those who came were rewarded by hearing a series of interesting and devout addresses which will long linger in their memo¬ ries. But we fear the Vicar will scarcely try to get another great preacher from London if the laity do not take the trouble to come and hear him. The evening service, on the other hand, was certainly much better attended than we have known it to be for some time. The choir sang " Why shouldst thou fear " from Gaul's Passion Music, and " Behold the Lamb of God " from the Messiah, with their usual feeling and precision, Miss Marshall rendering the solo " He was despised " with exquisite taste. The third disappointment was in the number of communicants who, in spite of the glorious wreather, only numbered 123—a distinct falling off from 1893, though better than the two preceding years. There were 32 at eight o'clock, 18 at nine, 17 at ten (Welsh) and 56 at eleven. There was an excellent congregation in the evening, and Mr. Gent preached a grand sermon on Colossians iii., 2 and 3, pointing out the paramount importance of the fact of the Resurrec¬ tion in the teaching of St. Paul, and showing how his doctrine of the physical Resurrection of Christ is always linked with the doctrine of the necessity of a moral resurrection in the believer—a dying to sin and rising again to righteousness. The Church, as usual, was prettily decorated, though flowers were hard to find so early in the year. Still the daffodils made a brave show. Miss Marshall undertook the font, Miss Maysmor and Miss Williams (Aberynant) the north windows, Miss Lloyd Kinsey being responsible for those on the south. The pulpit, as usual was decorated by Miss Ikin, while Mrs. H. Roberts, and Miss Davies undertook the clergy stalls, and the Misses Louie and Ettie Kitto the lectern. Mrs. Vaughan Owen decorated the chancel rails, Mrs.'Kitto made the floral altar cross—an unusually beautiful one —we fear for the last time, and Miss Kerr supplied the east window text and did the altar vases.