DAY OF PRAYER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 24 March 1941, Page 8

DAY OF PRAYER.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH. Large congregations gathered in St. Paul's Methodist Churcn, morning and evening, yesterday, when special intercession was offered for the Empire. Rev. Clarence Eaton conducted both services. The morning address was based on Colossians, chapter 1, verse 9: "Strengthened with all might . . . unto all patience and Jong-suffering, with joyfulness." The call to prayer, said Mr Eaton, was very timely. With the advent of spring in the Old World an intensification ot the struggle was to be expected. But calamity, it was truly said, hurt not in proportion to the weight of the stroke, but to the vulnerability of the spirit." There was a temper of mind able to turn the edge of the severest blows. "Endurance is the crowning quality, and patience all the passion of great hearts" (Lowell). Endurance was the real test of strength. That nation would win the war which could hold out the longest and suffer the most. Endurance had been, and still was, the very staple of our national character. But the natural must be reinforced by the spiritual. Jt was said of Moses, one of the greatest men of the race, that "he endured seeing Him Who is invisible." Only in a strength not our own, said Mr Eaton, could the nation face inevitable hardship, and persevere in the will to victory. The choir, under the direction of Mr A. Trcgurtha, rendered the anthems "Nearer, My God, to Thee" (Challenor) arid "Consider, and Hear Me" (Standridge) • CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

, The day of prayer was observed by large congregations at Emmanuel Congregational Church yesterday. At" the morning service the period usuallv devoted to an address to the children was used in special intercession on behalf of the children of the war-torn countries of the world. A brief address was delivered by the minister, Rev. W. McN. Garner, based on a letter fioin the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested by the King's request for a day of prayer, in- which the principal emphasis was: "Prayer is not just telling God what we want, or what we expect of Him, but it is a. way of lite, the whole character of the man who prays. Our lives, as well as the words of our lips must be our prayer. We must not forget that we come to listen as well as to speak. We are much more ready to say .'Hear, Lord, for Thy servant spcaketh,' than to say 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.' We have learned that it is much more important to do His will than tha,t He should do ours, for His will is Love." At the evening service much time was devoted to the ministry of intercession. The choir rendered appropriate anthems and Misses Betty and Dawn Olsen sang the duet "He Wipes the Tear." At the conclusion of the service the young women of the church served a cup of tea in the church hall.

(Other reports on page 2.)