HARVEST THANKSGIVING SERVICES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2015, 4 March 1890, Page 3

HARVEST THANKSGIVING SERVICES.

Harvest Festival services were held in St. Saviour's Church, Temuka, and St. John the Evangelist's Church, Winchester,

on Sunday last. Although the day proved dull and cloudy there were crowded congregations both morning and evening. he arrangements made for a recognition the "Harvest Home" thanksgiving

were of a very complete and pleasing character, giving evidence that many hands had been busily engaged in artistically arranging the " kindly fruits of the earth." The workers at St. Saviour's

Church always labor under great disadvantages, as owing to the awkward

structure of the church, and the poor light thrown by the windows (which, hy the way, admit volumes of air, if nothing else). The decorations, however good, do not produce the same effect as in the pretty church at Winchester, where, probably in half the time, the workers

succeeded in producing a most lovely effdet, This is mainly due to the beautiful chancel recently added. Too much

cannot be said in praise of the taste and skill displayed in utilising the natural advantages to the utmost. In St. Saviour's Church a sheaf worked into the form of a crown, and placed in the font, attracted considerable notice. In St. John's Church the lectern and east window were es-

pecially attractive. The musical portions of the services consisted of suitable harvest hymns. At St. Saviour's Church Jackson's " Te Deum " was introduced at

the morning service and Ebdon's"Nunc Dimittis " at the evening service. Hymn 274 of Sankey and Moody's collection, "Bringing in the Sheaves" was sung at both services during the collection of the offertory. Mr Proudlock presided most efficiently at the organ. Hymns only were sung at Winchester, but the way the congregation sang them showed a hearty

appieciation of their meaning. The ■ywrmonium was ably handled by Miss Himson, Her voluntaries were a perfect

BFeat to listen to, and the highest praise ia due to her for her skilful rendering of the musical portions of the service. The Incumbent officiated at the morning service at Temuka, celebrating the Holy GSiymunion, and also addressed the Sunday Echool children in the afternoon on

"The Harvest Fields," and took the

evening service at Winchester. Mr Gladstone conducted the morning service at Winchester, and at Temuka the evening service was read by Mr PiDckney, and the lessons and sermon by Dr Biunden. The following is the substance of the sermon preached upon both occasions by the Rev. T. A. Hamilton, who took for his text Psalm exxvi., 6,7, "They that sow in

tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth weepiDg, bearing precious feed, shall

doubtless come ogaiu with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Once mote the- harvest time has come to us, bringing jts golden crown of plenty. The sunaev cf tlie year has come to bare fields and

garnered sheaves, telling ua of another yef.r of labor ended, and honest, faithful work rewarded. "The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." "Praise the Loid, oh ray soul.and forgetnot ail His benefits." All through the year we have prayed io our chuichee, in our homes, and in our hearts " Give us this day our daily bread," and now that our prayer is answered we come to offer our united thaDks to God with due solernniiy. The time of harvest is, of all periods of

the year, the most important. It is the point to which all previous operations of the cultivator has tended. He known how much depende on the weather and Gou'a mercy. Having done all he can he

has to wait, and the harvest time detert mines results. Even those who are not engaged in agriculture are concerned in a harvest. Suppoße there were none, then non-producers must starve. Dwelling in great towns and cities, many who are engaged in traffic or manufacture may easily overlook harvest time, acd forget their dependence on God for tfeeir daily bread. They see not the sown fields ; they watch

not the springing bliide ; nor join in reaping and stacking. They are, therefore, likely to forget their dependence op* God. It ia well that (Tod forgets us not. Be has ever kept His promise "So lodo as the earth remaineth seed time und harvest shall not fail." The figuie of the text is explained by the circumstances of painful toil and eveD of personal risk uDder which the Syrian

farfner tills and sows his land. His farm is o£ten milts fiom the yiilage in which he Jives, and so liable is he to robbery nod violence that it is Use custom for several to £*o forth together fully armed. The ioy therefore of gathering in the harvest is great > n proportion to the labor and peril incurred. Tlu? Psalm was one of the «' Songs of Degrees" sung by those returning from the captivity, The weariness march, the long years required to restore ih<iir land to fertility raid to rebuild

tht'ir city aod temple, if this was such a prospect ae to rn-jke them weep, the proniiee of a happy issue to their labors would sustain (I Ir spirits in the anticipation .f .icue when their sorrow should be turned into joy. From the Psalm we learn this lessons-There cac bo no harvest, no

golden sheaves, without bard labor. secret of. the sheaves lies not bo much in the soed as in the rjough- ■- -hTP. So it is with our lives. All real HHfceßt work means first deep ploughing,

where the ploughshare of sorrow and selfdenial goes down deep. Next comes sowing of seed -vitb weary hands and sweat of brow, and as there can be no harvest sheaves unless the land has been workrd by hard, constant labor, so thera can be no sheaves of success without stem, patient self-denying woik. The story of all gre.it and noble lives is the story of tiiose who sowed in tears, who rUd thdir duty through good report and evil, who trampled i'a'.f under foot for she s ke of otheis—looking forward through their tears to the harvest, cheered by the thought of the golden sheaves. Look it Uie perfect pattern of our manhood—Jesus Christ. His whole life on earth was a sowing in tears, a going forth weeping beating good seed. Not till the fuming and temptation, the agony and bloody sweat, the iosults and the mockery, net till the nails and thorns had done their work could Jesus say " ft is finished." But He had His haruesfc. "He saw the travail of His Soul, and was satisfied."—(lsaiah liii.) So it has been ever with the Saints of old, discoverers, inventors, and benefactors of the world. These are they who have worked in God's great harvest field of souls. Ah ! but they recognised that " the life is more than meat." The parable of the rich fool —(Luke, xii\, 17, 18)—shows that there is a higher life than mere living for food and drink— Bios, a living ; but zoe, life. " Man doth not live by bread alone." The fool did not recognise a higher life, simply filling his bursting granaries, so that he mifcht " eat and bs merry," and he did not recognise that sacrifice is the basis of all life. A man may have his living out of his world goods, but his spirit he cannot retain a single instant. " I have no room to bestow my fruits." Tou hast! The bosoms of the needy, the houses of widows, the mouths of orphans, and in other works for God. To one about to bestow his fruits amißS St. Augustine says: -" If a friend should visit thee and find thou hadst lodged thy fruits on a damp floor, he would say to thee : ' Raise them to a higher room.' Thou wouldst listen to him, but thou wilt not listen to Christ advising thee to raise thy treasure from earth to heaven, where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt." There is a hunger and thirst that God alone can satisfy, and there is a life that can live only in God ; and often we only realise this in sorrow and weeping and blinding tears " when earth's vain Bhadows flee." Ah ! the ploughing of conviction, the softening dews of God's grace, are needed to prepare the soil of the heart to receive the gjod seed. "lam the Bread of Life," " Come unto Me all ye that labor," ate. Much goods laid up for thyself. But what saith Christ 1 " Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Gratitude to God for all His bounty (of which we are stewards only) should lend us, not to accumulate for selfish enjoyment, but to disperse to others. Selfish isolation is death, but self-sacrifice is life ; giving forth of what we have to others is the art of all lifenational, church, and individual. Selfish isolation means death. Let a nation isolute itself, and it hears the whispers of a coming doom. Let a church shut itself up, and it hastens to decay. Let an individual say, " Let my country, my church, my neighbors take care ot themselves." and, like the fool in the parable, they shall perish. Whom do we honor most % They who have willingly given themselves for the interests °of others. These are like cool breezes from the great mountain ranges of humanity. Learn that there is a (1) life that nothing but God can satisfy—a lesson needed in this age of reason ; (2) lesson of duty to others—a lesson sorely needed in this age of gold. There can be no better harvest offering to God than ourselves—our time, energy, and means. Seek this higher and nobler life, and then work in God's harvest-field. We shall reap as we have sown, The good seed of patient loving, self-denying work for God, every brave struggle with temptation, every kind act done, every sorrow meakly borne, shall produce fruit a hundredfold, golden sheaves to lay at Jesus' feet. Ask yourselves, What am I growing for 1 What will ray harvest be 1 What sheaves will I bring home with me ! What seeds ar-e you sowing in the plantation of this new country and its institution, in the education of children, in Church work, and in your own life 1 Oh happy day when sowers and reapers rejoice together ! What a harvest home that will be ! for toil and care and anxiety over, they that have "sown in tears," etc., "shall reap >n joy."