A DAY OF PRAYER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 43, 14 November 1917, Page 6

A DAY OF PRAYER

Sir,—ls it permissible- to hope that then King's appeal to his people to observe' the first Sunday in the New Year as a! day of prayer will meet with a fitting , response? In the sense, that is to say, that a well-organised' nationaKcffort to ; carry it, out in letter and in spirit willhe madef That it will be carried outi somehow there is no doubt. But some--how sometimes 6polle anyhow, and the name sort of thing has happened before. \ A day has been officially set, the local | hall has been secured, and a sort of reli- ■ gious side-show combining "addrDse"-giv. ing, prayer-making, andjiymn singing—; all very estimable and more" or less sue- : ccssful-has been held. But may not. 6oniething.be done on a wider basis f Thei initiative comes from, the Sovereign. He has taken it, not olcially as the head of' the Government, but, as it would appear,' personally. No doubt Hie Excellency, our GoYernoT-General, who represents the King in New Zealand in his person as well as by Mb office, will make the same appeal to us in this Dominion as tho ; King makes to the whole Empire. But* will he make it generally, leaving it to! each to carry out as it eeem6 best in his own eyes, or will he make it particularly to the leaders of the several bodies of those who profbsa and call themselves) Christians P If so, an opportunity will! bo given for overcoming for once, at anyl rate, the aloofness of religious denomina-' tionalism, and uniting Christian men. and women in a common general effort. Is it possible, sir, for the Governor-Gen-, oral, officially or semi-officially, or as per'! sonal representative of the Sovereign, to approaoh the leaders of these several bodies? One prefers to write "several" rather than "various" or "different" bodies, for when the one end in .view: is to pray to the God who rules' the world Ho has made there need be no variations of opinion and can be no dif-' forences •of dogma among or between,! Christians. In this connection there, are-! sevoral religions in a numerical sense,; and as such they have an equal status/ before God and man. If their recognised: leaders jn this Dominion were thus ap-| proacheu or appealed to, or invited, theyj would aesuredly respond, and would' agree, say, to dolegate two or three of their number to meet together in conference with the object of organising a general prayer day. Such delegates would be'nion of broad minds,- large, hearts, and wide experience. They would have at their fingers' ends the names of: many preachers belonging to tieir, several organisations—men with a special' gift for this kind of work, men of the : prophet kind, in whatever capacity they may serve their particular Churches. Such men would be sent each to a differ-, out plaoo on a. week's mission to pre-i pare for the prayer day beforehand andto take the leading part in carrying it ( out. Such a man coming with such credentials, and coming from a distance, could do and would do a great deal to! overcome the local religious aloofness. And he would do much more beside this.-, During his week's mission he would; toaoh us how to pray in a fitting national spirit. His purpose would be not so much to call people over the coals for personal transgressions as to bring them to a, sense of national ein and shortcoming. Our idea of national prayer is at bottom somewhat Pharisaical—"Lord we thank Thee that we are not as other nations are, treacherous, cruel, lustful, enslaved, envious, or tearefs up of treaties. We observe the international code of honour and deal fairly with all mankind." W» need to be told that this kind of prayer is not acceptable. We must be taught that God is daily dishonoured among ua and by us. His own name is tabooed, His gifts flouted, His commands ignored. Aβ a nation we educate our children in everything but godliness. As a people we lie abed till Gods sun is many houra high and spend many of tho hours of darkness in the pursuit of ploosuro and profit. Christians in name, we reluse the right hand of fellowship and eoparatu ourselves into sects, into classes whose interests clash, into nations who carry fire and sword by land and sea and air for each other'e destruction. Professed disciples of One Who had nowhere to lay His head, wo aim at adding field to field nnd million to million, nourishing and nursing the cancer of-selfishness as if it were a virtue. Professedly seeking tho Kingdom of God, wo make daily boast of an earthly empire which passeth away and tho glory thereof. Organised and prepared for on some such lines as this, our day of prayer would be a day not 6oon forgotten, and we should be yioldiug obedienco not only to the desire of an earthly monarch, but to tho command/ which bids us more plainly every year "to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God."—l cm, 1 MANGATAINOKA. November 12, 1917.