HARVEST THANKSGIVING SERVICES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2109, 30 March 1920, Page 3

HARVEST THANKSGIVING SERVICES.

■ Harvest Thanksgiving services were held at the local Presbyterian Church on Sunday last. Preaching at the evening service, the minister, Rev. Thos. Halliday, took for his text, Isaiah ix., 3: “They joy-before Thee, according to- the joy in harvest.''’ Harvest Thanksgiving , services have been held for very many years, said the preacher. Even under the Old Jewish dispensation • joy and gladness entered into their lives; What we call. Harvest Thanksgiving they called the Feast of Tabernacles, or Ingathering. When the men of the Mayflower landed in New England they thanked God and took courage. These were stern days, but there was one day when the stern Puritan spirit was allowed to relax itself, and men, women and children enjoyed the pleasures of the table. When you think of the Harvest time, said the preacher, you are reminded of God’s ■watchful care. To him it is a great argument for God. Not the Deistic idea, nor the Pantheistic idea, but the thought of God as a loving Heavenly Father, watching over His children. There, would be remembered Longfellow’s Evangeline in this connection :

“Keenly the lightning Hashed and the voice of the echoing thunder Told her that God was in Heaven and governed the world He created.” It is a far better conception that we to-day have of God, continued the speaker. He is revealed in Nature in Plis Revelation, but especially in His Bon Jesus Christ our .Saviour. Is there not a duty devolving upon us —the duty of Thankfulness? The best way to still ths spirit of complaint and promote the spirit of gratitude is to count our mercies. In the words of the poet: “’When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, And you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, • And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”

Thankfulness and gratitude are scarce commodities. Do we realise what is involved when the petition, “Give as this day our daily bread,” is answered? All (he ministry of spring is in it, and till the warmth and glory of the summer. And night and day, andjieal and cold, and tTosi. and all the falling of the rain. Two farmers in the Old Land were talking one day about the prospects of the harvest, continued the preacher. The one .farmer, -who was a sceptic, said to the other, who wa.s a Christian, “My fields are as good as yours, my crops are as far forward as any you have, and my corn is as fresh and promising as yours, and when we count up and reap in October 1 shall have as much to show as you will.” “It is true,” said the Christian farmer, “that God sent his rain on the just and unjust, hut you forget one important fact, God does not make up his accounts in October.” But at this Harvest season we are reminded of man’s cooperation with God. "With reverence be it spoken God cannot get on without us. He lias appointed man IBs ■Vicegerent on earth. In this beautiful country of ours —God’s own land —we remember with gratitude the work of our fathers, said tuc preacher. The hush has been made a garden of the Lord. Browning’s words are appropriate of many of the provinces of New Zealand; “One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward; Never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed, though Right were worsted, Wrong would triumph. Held, we fall to rise, are baffled to light better, Sleep to wake..”

Now that this cruel war is over, let our motto be “each for all, and all for each,” continued the Rev. Halliday. We spent millions in destruction, let us spend millions in reconstruction. The spirit that won the- war introduced to the life of ihis Empire now would save it from this deadly peril of Bolshevism. Earl Grey, who passed away quite recently, said to a friend on one occasion, “There is a real way out of all this mess —it’s Christ’s way. We’ve got to give up quarreling. We’ve got to come together. We’ve got to realise that we’re members of the same family. There’s nothing (hat can help humanity except love. Love is (he way out, and the way up. That’s my farewell to the world.”

“T« young men aiul women.let mo say we reap what we .sow,” said the preacher. Natural law holds good in the spiritual world. If we wish a crop of potatoes we plant potatoes, and if we wish to close our days in peace and joy we must live a righteous life. Sin leaves indelible marks upon us, ■ God in his wonderful mercy in Jesus Christ can clean us from all sin, yet the thorn in the ilesh remains then to the end of our days. “In tine let me say our text reminds us of the joy of doing good,” concluded the preacher. “Service should be bur watchword. You can never be happy if you live for self. Two short incidents prove my final word. Some years ago a young doctor, Harold Schofield, went to China, believing be was obeying the Divine within him. In a few months he died in that foreign land without even learning the language. Friends said he had thrown his life away. But the sequel bears value to consecrated service. Seven young fellows from Cambridge Volunteered to go cut and help on the work that he had begun. ' The other story is in con-

■ncctiun with the Princess Eugene of Sweden, She sold her '’diamonds (hat she might bulhl a hospital for, (he sick poor. ■ One ol the first, patients was brought out of darkness into light, and with eyes full of oars confessed her 'gratitude. ‘ln your tears,’ said the Princess, ‘I again see my diamonds.’ There is a real joy in service —m taking a little from the heap of human misery and planting it upon the heap of human happiness. “Let ns then be up and doing, YY’ith a heart for any fate, Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour and to wait.”