INTERCESSORY SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16480, 4 September 1915, Page 4

INTERCESSORY SERVICE

The weekly intercessory service' was held in., First, Church /on Thursday! Professor Di<&ie occupied' the pulpit. He took as His text the following, words in verse "15 of the 30th chapter of Isaiah:—"ln quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." " The speaker opened by , referring to. the uncheering aspect of .the situation, apd commented on the attitude of the United States of America, whidi, he Said,, stood' Almost as much for commercialism as Germany did for militarism, and there was as , much conscience in the one case as in the other.,; However, the. great bulk of the American people were well disposed to our ; cause,' and upon the whole the conscience of the country was upon our side. Against' that, nevertheless, •it must be. confessed, that many of the leaders of public ; opinion were under the thrall of German ideals. ■< Proceeding. to epeak of the apparent success of tbe powers that stood for uprightfeousness, the speaker said- that surely the outlook was black if we put confidence in men instead of- in the' living God. We 'had reason to be ashamed that though we stood for justice, righteousness, and mercy, our preparation and our conduct Of the war was inferior to that of the enemy. There was no need to lose heart because of that; it wm but an additional call to all to rise up and do- their part., The Unseen and the Eternal had eternity in which to accomplish his ends. His methods were rfot hasty, but they were suro. The Kingdom of God came steadily and surely in. spite of our faltering and in spite of our failures. The great .Eternal .was never in a p hurry, but patient, strong, And all mighty. We were discouraged- only as we forgot Him, and we forgot him only as we- were disloyal tcj his claim upon , us. The soldiers in the trenches were calling-us to come and-help them. "Die cause was God's:, cause, and everyone must ybear .'his part. We tjould not be defeated unless we were false to ourselves and false to our God. He was fully persuaded that we were gaining in strength dav by day, and' did not for one moment doubt what would be 'the final - outcome.