Apr 1941

Seagoe Parish Magazine.

APRIL, 1941.

CLERGY:

REV. J. W. APPELBE, M.A., B.D., Seagoe Rectory.

REV. W. F. HAYES, B.A., L.Th., The Bungalow, Lower Seagoe.

CHURCHWARDENS.

Rector's—GEORGE LEAKE.

People's—J. R. REID.

THE CLERGY WILL DEEM IT A FAVOUR

IF IN CASES OF SICKNESS THEY ARE

INFORMED IMMEDIATELY.

CALENDAR FOR APRIL.

April 6^th - 6th Sunday in Lent.

April 7^th —Monday before Easter. Evening Prayer at 8 p.m.

April 8^th Tuesday before Easter. Evening Prayer at 8 p.m.

April 9th—Wednesday before Easter. Evening Prayer at 8 p.m.

April 10^th —Thursday before Easter. Evening Frayer at 8 p.m.

April 11th—Good Friday. Morning Prayer 11.30 a.m. Evening Prayer at 8 p.m.

April 13th , —Easter Day.

April 15th-— . Mothers' Union Social Evening.

April 17th —Annual General Easter Vestry at 8 p.m.

April '20th—1st Sunday after Easter.

April 25th—st. Mark.

April 27th—2nd Sunday after Easter.

HOLY WEEK SERVICES.

During Holy Week, viz., the week beginning on

Monday, April 7th, there will be a service each night

Monday to Friday, inclusive, in the Parish

Church at 8 p.m. At these services appropriate addresses

will be given dealing with the Passion of our Lord.

On Good Friday there will be Morning Prayer, with

a short address, at 11.30 a.m., as well as the Evening

sevice at 8 p.m. The collections at both services on

Good Friday will be in aid of the C. of I. Jews' Society.

EASTER DAY.

Holy Communion at 8 a.m.

Morning Prayer and Holy Communion 11.30 a.m.

Children's Service 3 p.m.

Evening Prayer p.m.

THE ANNUAL GENERAL EASTER VESTRY.

All parishioners, whose names are on the Registered

of Vestrymen and vestrywomen, have the privilege

attending this annual General Vestry meeting. It

will take place this year on Thursday, April 17th, at

8 P.m., in Seagoe School. The main business of this

important meeting is to elect a Churchwarden and a

Select Vestry for the ensuing year.

All parishioners whose names are on the registered

list will receive a notice summoning them to this

meeting.

MOTHERS' UNION.

The monthly meeting took place in Seagoe School

Thursday, March 13th, at 3.30 p.m., when Mrs. J.

Eakin very kindly gave a most interesting talk on

“Home Nursing.'

The next meeting will be of the nature of a social

evening and will take place in Seagoe School on

Tuesday, April 15th, at 7.30 p.m.

SUNDAY SCHOOL PRIZE-GIVINGS.

This annual treat for the children of Edenderry

Morning and Afternoon Sunday Schools took place

on Friday, February 21st To save expense the

Superintendents and teachers provided the tea and pastries,

which were in abundance and greatly appreciated

by a very full house. These two Sunday Schools are

in a flourishing condition.

The Rev. W. F. Hayes presided at the prize distribution

at Hacknahay on Friday, Feb. 28th, when

Mrs. Bunbury Atkinson distributed the awards. A

minor innovation, which proved very popular, was the

substitution of games for the usual programme of

songs and sketches.

A very pleasant function took place in Drumgor

Church Hall on Monday, February 27th, when Mrs.

Appelbe presented the prizes to pupils there. A

sumptuous tea and the ever popular games were

enjoyed by all. It speaks well for this Sunday School

to see a number of the pupils in Church regularly

each Sunday.

Owing to the absence of " black-out" facilities in

Seagoe P.E.S., the combined morning and afternoon

Sunday School social was held on Saturday, March

8th, at 3 p.m. Appetites were just as keen, and the

games just as hilarious, as if the function was taking

place at a later hour. A number of the smaller

children sang and recited impromptu items.

All the above mentioned Sunday Schools continue

to flourish. and this fact is to a very large extent due

to the devoted service of the Superintendents and

teachers, to whom we are deeply indebted for their

invaluable help in this Christlike work.

CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR NOTES.

DRUMGOR.

We congratulate our parishioners in the Drumgor

area on the formation of a branch of the Christian

Endeavour Society in Drumgor Church Hall. It Will

we feel sure, provide a useful adjunct to the Sunday

School there by providing a training ground for

teachers, and as well it affords a centre for fellowship

in spiritual matters for that end of the parish. The

weekly meetings take the form of prayer and Bible

study, in which all present are encouraged to take

part.

On St. Patrick's night, Shankill, Lurgan C.E. Society,

paid a visit to the newly formed branch, and

the members of the former took charge of the meeting,

which was well attended. The Rector, in welcoming

the visitors, expressed his delight that a new

branch had been formed in Drumgor. It has had one

practical affect already, viz., as a result seven members

have undertaken to become regular subscribers

to the W.F.O.

We append a list of officers

President, Rev. J. W. Appelbe, M.A., B.D.; Vice

President and Secretary, Mr. Wm. Hutchinson;

Recording Secretary Mr. Jack Gardner; treasurer, Miss

Maureen Lyness; organist, Miss Mabel Gracey.

Committees—Look out, Miss Meta Campbell (Convener)

Miss Irene Gracey, Miss Maggie Anderson, Mr. Wm.

Campbell; Prayer Meeting, Mr. Charles Gardner (convener),

Miss May Gardner, Miss Eileen Uprichard, Mr.

Wm. Hutchinson; Social, Miss Josephine Campbell

(convener), Mr. Eric Turner, Mr. Jack Gardner, Miss

Maureen Lyness Miss M. Gracey. Night of meeting—

Monday, at 8 p.in., in Drumgor Church Hall.

SEAGOE C.E.

An interesting lecture on " The life and work of

David Livingstone," illustrated

by lantern slides, was

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.

given in Edenderry Orange Hall on Monday, 24th

February, under the auspices of the B.C.M.S., on the

invitation of Seagoe C.E. The members of Seagoe

branch have taken an active interest in the work of

this Missionary Society for some time.

The Rev. W. F. Hayes presided, and the lecture,

given by Mr. P. B. Morrison, was most interesting.

After the lecture, Mr. Huston, who accompanied the

lecturer, thanked the members of Seagoe C.E. Society

for their support of the work of the B.C.M.S., and in

doing so he gave an account of its work. At the conclusion

of the meeting there was a retiring collection,

amounting to 17/-, for the B.C.M.S.—(M.L.B.)

CHURCH OF IRELAND MISSION TO THE JEWS.

LIST OF BOXHOLDERS.

Mrs. Appelbe, Seagoe Rectory £0 10 0

The late Rev. G. H. Daunt 1 0 0

The Misses N. K. & K.

Montgomery, Edward Street 1 0 0

Miss M. Watters, Goban St. 0 8 6

Miss Amy Cox, Carrickblacker Rd 0 4 4

Mrs. Thos. Martin, Baiteagh 0 7 6

Mrs. Wm. Neill, Lower Seagoe 0 5 9

Mrs. James Shanks, Kernan 0 5 9

Mrs. Magee, Carrickblacker Road 0 4 1

Mr. T. Ryans, Carrickblacker Ave. 0 4 6

Miss M. L. Best, Goban Cottage 0 10 0

Good Friday Collections (1940) 1 16 10

--------------------

£6 17 3

(This has been remitted to the above Society)

(M. L. Best, hon. sec.)

BOCOMBRA S.S. ACCOUNT FOR 1940.

To Cash on hands £5 6 0

S.S. Collection 1 1 4 ½

Harvest Collection 1 14 0 ½

---------------------

£8 1 5

By 2 mantles (2/- each) 0 4 0

Fireclay 0 0 8

Coal 0 6 0

Mrs. M'Carran 1 0 0

Expenses on Social 0 4 0

Prizes 1 0 8

Cash on hands 5 6 1

---------------------

£8 1 5

HACKNAHAY SUNDAY SCHOOL

Receipts.

Carried forward £7 7 6

Sunday Collections 1 13 1

Harvest Collection 3 9 5

Social 2 11 9

Rent 3 9 4

-------------------

£18 11 1

Payments.

Foreign Missions 1 0 0

Rates 0 18 1

Prizes 3 13 0

Coal and Oil 3 6 10

Caretaker 0 15 0

Repairs 3 12 9

Balance 5 5 5

-------------------

£18 11 1

RECTORY BUILDING FUND.

The Hon. Treas. for the above gratefully acknowledges

the receipt of the following subscriptions:

James Twinem, Lylo Villa £5 0 0

Chas. S. A. Twinem, Margretta Park 2 0 0

Jas. J. Twinem, junr., Lylo Villa 1 0 0

Jos. Ed. M'Murray, Lylo 0 10 0

Mrs. Preston, Lylo 0 10 0

Mrs. Quinn (nee White), Lylo 0 2 6

Mr. Geo. Wilson, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Reps. of the late T. H. Wilson, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mr. Robt. Walker, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mrs. Jos. M'Laughlin, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mrs. Ballentine, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mrs. W. Neill and Family, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mr. John M'Laughlin, Lower Seagoe 0 10 0

Mr. Bertie Kilpatrick, Lower Seagoe 0 5 0

Mrs. Norman Guy, Derryvore 1 0 0

Mr. Geo. Matchett, Derryvore 0 10 0

Mrs. Samuel Guy, Derryvore 0 5 0

--------------------

£17 12 6

OBITUARY.

It is with deep regret that we record this month the

passing from our midst of three parishioners. Robert

Neill was a well-known and respected inhabitant of

Ballymacrandle, where, since his retirement, he made

gardening his hobby. He passed away very suddenly

after an operation in Lurgan Hospital.

Mrs. Gordon was in very poor health for many

months and she bore her increasing weakness with

patience and Christian fortitude.

Mrs. Watson Walker will be greatly missed in

Seagoe, which occupied a very high place in her

affections. She returned recently after a visit to her

daughter and was recovering from a slight indisposition,

when the end came suddenly, and she passed

peacefully a way. Though having exceeded by many

years the allotted span, she preserved her mental vigour

and all her faculties to the end. Her place will

be hard to fill.

To all the bereaved we extend our sincere sympathy

in their loss, and we pray that they may be comforted

and strengthened by Him, who said "I am the

Resurrection and the Life."

BAPTISMS.

" Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid

them not. for of such is the Kingdom of God."

7th March—Annie, daughter of George and Sarah Conlon, 19, Florence Court (privately).

MARRIAGES.

" Those whom God hath joined together let no man

put asunder."

March 5th—David George Sherman, Duneden, Carrickblacker Road, Portadown,

and Eva Wright, 18. West St., Portadown.

March 10th—George Pentland, 29, Carrickblacker Rd.,

Portadown, and Rhoda Gilmore, 26, Carrickdal Gardens, Portadown.

March 11th—Kennedy Hunter, Doneybraggy, Moneymore, Co. Derry,

and Emily Clements, 3, Eden Crescent, Edenderry, Portadown.

BURIALS.

" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from

henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest

from their labours."

March 19th—Alexander Lutton, 78, Montague Street, Portadown,

and Ann Isabella Roney, 4, Goban Street, Portadown.

February 26th—Robert Neill, Ballymacrandle, aged 71 years. Interred in Tandragee.

March 2nd—Charlotte Gordon, Ballinacor, aged 51 years.

March 3rd—James Forrest, I, Nendrum Gardens Bloomfield, Belfast, aged 74 years.

March 21st—Letitia Walker, Seagoe, aged 83 years

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.

THE GOSPEL CAME TO IRELAND.

Psalm 48: 11-12—" Walk about Zion and go round

about her: and tell the towers thereof. Mark well her

bulwarks, consider her houses; that ye may tell them

that come after."

(A sermon preached by the Rev. W. F. Hayes in

Seagoe on Sunday, March 10th, 1941) :

I expect many of you buy and read that well known

newspaper, the " Belfast Evening Telegraph." In its

Saturday edition almost the whole of the second page

is filled with announcements of the many religious

services to be held on the following Sunday in the

numerous churches and kindred buildings in Belfast.

It begins with the services of our Church, the Cathedral

Church of St. Anne. Immediately follow those to be

held in the Parish Churches. It gives the various

Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and Congregational

services. The announcements include churches with

somewhat novel and striking, if not startling titles.

The list concludes with the innumerable services to

be held in the Gospel Halls, whose number is legion.

Any fair minded person reading that long, varied list,

would say, I think, whatever his own particular tastes

might be, that the Gospel gets a good show in Ulster's

capital city on Sunday. Those who know the provincial

towns, the villages and the country districts,

would bear like testimony there also. That brings us

to our subject for this morning—" the Gospel came

to Ireland." In this part of the country many boast

themselves of " the open Bible." To whom are we

indebted for it? Wherever the Gospel went it was

taken by some person. We read in the Book of the

Acts of how the good news of Jesus Christ was taken

to and taught for the first time in various places.

Philip went down to Samaria and preached the Word

there. He preached it also to the Ethiopian eunuch.

That foreigner was travelling from Jerusalem, where

he had come to worship, to Ethiopia in Africa. There

you have the account of the first person on record,

who carried a knowledge of Jesus Christ to Ethiopia,

which is the country we now know as Abyssinia, and

about which we are hearing so much from day to day.

The Book of the Acts also records how St. Paul carried

the Gospel to the towns of Asia Minor. Later it

tells how he brought it to Europe, to the cities of

Athens, Corinth and Rome.

When the Gospel came to Ireland it was brought by

a person who believed it, and who knew it to be "the

most precious things which this world affords." The

person who brought it was St. Patrick. There may

have been stray Christians in this land before his

time. If there were we know nothing of them; and

they certainly left no permanent marks behind them.

It was St. Patrick who brought the light of the Gospel

of Jesus Christ to our shores. As such he deserves

the honour, the respect and the gratitude of all people

in this country, whomsoever they may be, or wheresoever

they may worship, on Sunday, or on other occasion

throughout the week. There is no one in this land,

who values the blessings that have been brought to

mankind by the Church of God, there is no one who

names the names of Jesus Christ, there is no one who

believes that in Him alone is salvation and who can

yet feel that he is not deeply indebted to St. Patrick,

the Apostle to the Irish people. In the dark, difficult

far-off days of 1,500 years ago, he came here of his

own free will and laboured for many years in the

cause of God. It was hard and difficult labour, how

difficult we cannot conceive. He lived to see it crowned

with remarkable success. He lived to see many in this

land claimed for the service and worship of God. I

hold that a man who did that deserves a place of

in our minds. But if we are to respect his

person and to value his work for the Kingdom of God

then we must know something about him. This is

where a few, at least, fall short, for of him and of the

abiding value of his labours they know next to

nothing.

To some, who are advanced beyond their fellows in

learning, what i am saying and about to say may seem

very elementary and simple. If so, will you please

remember, that I speak now, as always, more particularly

to the uninformed and to the unenlightened. At

the outset I would like to clear up one difficulty about

St. Patrick that seems to worry some of our local

people. Some are rather afraid to be too enthusiastic

about our Patron Saint because he is so zealously honoured

by our Roman Catholic fellow countrymen. I

have been asked by people in this parish, almost in

baited breath, to know was St. Patrick really a Protestant

or was he a Roman Catholic. To ask such a

question is as ridiculous as to ask, did he come to Ireland

in a Blenheim bomber or in a Sunderland flying

boat. St. Patrick, who never heard of these modern

mechanisms was equally unfamiliar with the terms

Roman Catholic and Protestant, as we understand

them.

Let us look. back. St. Patrick came to Ireland in the

year 432, that is over 1,500 years past. Fifteen hundred

years ago the Christian Church in Europe was, broadly

speaking. one body of peoples. They had one simple,

common order of practice, faith and worship. It was

not until the time of the Reformation, that is roughly

1,100 years after St. Patrick came to our shores, that

the Christian Church in Europe was rent in two. Thus,

in the sixteenth century, were formed those two great

divisions of Western Christendom, that we call Roman

Catholic and Protestant. I mention this to stress

what I have already implied, that St. Patrick was

neither a Roman Catholic nor a Protestant. He was

previous to both; he was before either was known.

What then is our connection with him? We claim

that our faith, the ministry of the sacraments and the

ordering of our Church's system and worship conform

or are in direct line and accord with the Church

founded by St. Patrick in Ireland. Our Church to day

is Protestant and Reformed. That is it refused to remain

under an outside and foreign influence in religious

matters. That foreign influence in Church

affairs was brought here largely by our English conquerors.

It was an influence under which the Irish

Church was weakened and impaired. At the Reformation

our Church cast off this foreign yoke; it reasserted

its independence, and was reformed after the

pattern of the early Celtic Church in doctrine, order,

and worship. The English state made a great blunder

at the time of the Reformation. It did not give our

Reformed Church the help it ought to have given. For

lack of that help the spirit of the Reformation only

touched a section of the people of Ireland. This explains

why we have today a population that is predominantly,

overwhelmingly and increasingly Roman

Catholic. Had the Reformation been properly handled

the bulk of the people would have shared our faith,

and the history of our country would have been a

brighter chapter. Had that been so, instead of a

neighbour that is largely indifferent, if not hostile,

Britain today would have beside her in this country

a people who would be loyal to a man; and her cabinet

ministers would have no reason to make painful references

to " the Irish situation," neither would they

have cause to wring their hands about the Irish ports.

Now something briefly about St. Patrick's life and

his call to bring the Gospel to our forefathers. He

lived somewhere on the west coast of Britain, probably

Dumbarton, in Scotland. He belonged to a cultured

Christian family with clerical connections. When

about 16 years of age, Irish pirates made a

raid upon the district where he lived. In it

his home was destroyed and his father and

mother were killed. He was carried captive

to Ireland.

Here he laboured as a slave shepherd.

His one great desire was to regain his freedom and to

hardship he never forgot his Christian upbringing. He

continued to put his trust in God. In his writings he

tells us, that while he kept watch over his master's

many as a hundred players in one night. Eventually

he did escape in a passing ship which took him to

France. Now that he had gained his freedom he was

seized by one desire. It was to carry the Gospel

message to the Irish, whom he pitied in their pagan state.

He set about in serious study to prepare himself for

the day when he would do this. In the early Christian

Church there was order, there was system and there

was discipline. A man would not set out to be a

missionary without the consent and approval of the

Church. St. Patrick had much regard and respect for

authority. Before he came back here as a missionary

he became an ordained clergyman and was consecrated

a Bishop. In addition he was specially

commissioned for this particular work.

As a missionary he had marked success. He saw

the High King of Ireland accept the Word of God and

approve of its being taught to his people. He saw

churches built in many widely separated districts of

this country. The work commenced by him was carried

on by his enthusiastic converts and successors.

Soon the early Celtic Christian Church became renowned

for its vigour, for its learning, for its missionary

enthusiasm and for the saintly lives of its members.

So Christianity took deep root in Irish hearts

and upon Irish soil. There was in this country one

Church united in faith, in worship and in brotherly

love. When we look out to-day upon our country we

see a different state of affairs. You may ask whence

the change. To put an answer in brief words is far

from easy. We return to the list of services of the

Saturday " Telegraph." If you go back 200 years how

many of the denominations mentioned there were

known or existed. Only two—the Church of Ireland

and the Presbyterian. As the history of the Presbyterian

Church is really the story of the Church in

Scotland, we leave it to one side. Whether we accept

it or not we find that by far the most ancient and

historic denomination in Ireland is our own Church.

You have only to look at our old Churches and Cathedrals

to know this. We have in our possession the

sites of the oldest Christian foundations. Many like

that of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, and of St.

Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, are believed to be the

actual places where St. Patrick preached and had

erected the first Celtic houses of worship.

If you travel all over Ireland from North to South and from

East to West you see everywhere the castellated

towers of our Church buildings. Those, some of them

very ancient, are a witness to what I have been saying.

These bear testimony, that for hundreds of years our

Church, throughout the length and breadth of the

land has been a link between its peoples and God.

Throughout the centuries it preserved the Word of

God and shed abroad the Light of Life. It kept watch

for the cause of Jesus Christ. It's bells reminded our

forefathers of God's claim and summoned them to

prayer and worship in an age when there were neither

clocks nor watches. The words with which the Psalmist

drew the attention of Israel to their beloved Jerusalem

these are words that we may fittingly and profitably

apply to ourselves in connection with our illustrious

Church—" Go round about her and tell the

towers thereof. Mark well her bulwarks, consider her

houses; that ye may tell them that come after.

Someone may ask is it any benefit to know such facts

about our Patron Saint and about the Church which

he founded? Will this help you nearer heaven? Of

course, you may get there without knowing anything

about him or about that Church which has kept

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE

unceasing watch for men's souls. But without the work

and the example of faithful persons of the past, like

St. Patrick, our proximity to Heaven might be even

more remote than it is. All sensible and reasonable

Christians would say that it is a benefit to know the

life, labours and works of St. Paul as we have them

recorded in the Acts and the Epistles. All sensible

people would say that the life of such a missionary,

as David Livingstone, is an inspiration and an example

of what devotion to the Lord Jesus can do. St. Patrick,

stands in line with all the great Christian missionaries,

who have displaced the bondage of heathen

darkness by the light and freedom that come to those,

who serve " the Lord of Lords."

Many people in this world, not least where their

faith is concerned, need something that will give them

steadiness. They need an anchor for their souls; they

need a spiritual home. A thinking person looking at

the countless denominations of today may ask, which

is the right one for me? Such a question is often the

sign of spiritual life and it demands an answer. The

knowledge of the service which our Church has rendered

to our forefathers, the knowledge that we are

indebted to it for so much, this must mark it out for

us as one that has a claim upon us; it must mark it

out for us as our proper sphere and as the sphere in

which we can render to God the service that will be

most acceptable to Him.

My tribute to the Church of my ancestors, to the

Church which is mine by birth. by baptism and by

conviction is this: that it is second to none. That it is

second to none in its past record; that it is second to

none in its adherence to the Word of God; that it is

second to none in the dignity, reverence and simplicity

of it's worship, and as seen in the lives of the

best people that it produces. To those who know the

facts this must be their tribute. I hope it is yours.

Furthermore, I trust, that we may have grace to live

worthily of it, until the day we enter the Church without

division, spot or wrinkle in the unseen City of

God—where there is one fold and one Shepherd.

DISTRICT SERVICES,

Drumgor—Easter Day, at 3 p.m.

Hacknahay—April 27th, at 3.30 p.m.

SIDESMEN FOR APRIL.

Morning Prayer—The Churchwardens, Messrs. J. H.

Twinem, T. Martin, J. Stephens, J. G. Gracey, J.P.

Evening Prayer—Messrs. J. Walker, N. Campbell, T.

Stanfield, D. Allen, G. Nixon, J. M'Lough1in.

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