HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2723, 31 January 1910, Page 4

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.

HARVEST THANKSGIVING. The annual harvest thanksgiving services were held at Holy Trinity Church vesterday. The interior of the church had been tastefully decorated by a number of willing, workers, and % most; pleasing effect was produced by the artistic display of fruits and flowers. Stalks of maize were largely used in the decorations, while fruit and vegetables were arranged in bounteous profusion, the general effect being enhanced by a tasteful display of flowers and greenery. A celebration of the Holy Eucharist was held at 8 a.m., and a second celebration after the 11 o’clock service, when the Rev. Staples Hamilton assisted the vicar.

At the 11 o’clock service, the vicar, the Rev. L. Dawson Thomas, preached an appropriate sermon from the 16th verse of the '23rd chapter of Exodus: “Thou shall keep the least of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast- sown in thy field, and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the "year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.” The rev. gentleman stated that the .harvest thanksgiving sei-vice was becoming more popular year by year. Too long the people had taken their gifts as a matter of course. In a district such as this almost everyone was dependent upon the product of the. fields, and he regretted that many

wore absent from the House of God that day who were directly dependent upon Soso products. The preacher referred to the harvest festival in ancieS Jewish times and to the harvest homes in rural England where unfortunately the custom had in some, instances degenerated into license and over-indulgence in drink. Many godlv farmers however, were desirous of ra sing the festival to a higher plane, and had invoked the a.d of the Church with the result that the harvest thanksgiving service has been established ” “God,” said the preacher, “lias blessed your country with a P odigal hand, and it is htde wonder that it has come to be designated by many as the Almighty’s own country Thev had all good, reason to come into the House- of God and thanw him for his bounteous benefits. Appropriate hymns were sung during the service, and the anthem, "O Lord, How Manifold are Thy Works” was rendered by tho choir. Mr. E. N. Sidebottom officiated as organist. The church was crowded in the e\enin", when the vicar took as the text for his sermon the loth and 16tu vesses of the 145th Psalm : “1 he eyes of all wait upon thee ; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest- thine hand, and satisfies! the desire of every living thing. As the world grows older, the preacher declared the people seemed to be losing the faculty of seeing the inner beauty of'things. The ancient Greek mythologists "saw beauty in all things—thel rising and setting or the sun, in o. storm-tossed ocean, in rivers and rr l G-dcLS—"Otis, and ££o d d gss€* abounded everywhere. In this age of commercialism, people appeared to ha\e eyes only for the practical value <>f everything they saw. That Old Mother Earth was onlv good to grow so many bushels to the acre; a storm at sea had no beautv nowadays, as it possibly would mean a late arrival for the wool sales. The season of harvest thanksgiving was good, inasmuch as it reminded people of the beauty of God s creation. The farmers of old sowed their seed, and left the rest to God: and we. too, would do well in the present age to trust more to the. Creator and, though these were not to be despised, less to patent manures and scientific methods of farming. The rev. gentleman concluded an eloquent sermon by exhorting his hearers t-o have patience and trust in. God’s boun_ tiful goodness to supply them with all they required in due season; During the'evening the choir gave an acceptable rendering of Bruce Steane’s an* them, *’Great is the Lord.”