HARVEST FESTIVAL AT TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2135, 16 March 1886, Page 2

HARVEST FESTIVAL AT TE AWAMUTU.

THE annual harvest festiv.il was held in S. John's Church on Sund.iv evening. Tlie Rev. W. Calder, of All Saints, Aueklnnd, officiated. He preached at Alexandra in the morning. The dec nation* of the Church weie unusually pond and tasteful. Several ladies of the congregation assembled the day before and did the work. A novel feature in the decorations was the manner jn which the chandeliers were dress-ed. were festooned with flowers and the foliage of the nucrocarpa, while under these, and pendant from the lings of the chandeliers were strings of the led lipe berries of the sweet bii.ir, \eiy aitistically looped up. This was entuely the woikof Miss y. Vowless. On the communion table weie small . sheaves of wheat, pilet of fruit of different soits, while in front and close to each end of the table was hung a bunch of black grapes, each on a sheet of white paper. These looked \ery pretty against the dark red background of tlie cloth. The rails were hung with evergreen^, fruit and flowers, and grain. At the foot of the rail* were piles and rows of fruit and vegetable-, of various sott*, while among these were several jars and fancy bottles containing honey. The reading desk was nU<> ornamented with evergreens and flovvcr-s -md the panels, which were wreathed with ivy, were coveted with white, and in the centie of each was a clutter of black grapes. In the centre of the aisle batweun the teats of the choir was a sheaf of oats, and around the foot of this were laid various fruits and vegetables, bundles of rhubub, &c. At the entrances to the choir wa-i an .irch of evercruQiis, maize, fruit-., flowers, &c, the ends of the pews weio also decorated. Among the decorations just mentioned woie to bo scan the tall stilks of inii/u with the yellow cob>, partially shipped of tlicii en\oli.|>o of yieou, peeping tin mi^li the leave*. The ladies who earned out the wmk deserve the highest praise for the taste displayed, it cerUmly w»w the m«st pleasing yet seen in the church. The anthem, "Ye shall Dwell in the Land}" was exceedingly well sung. Sir Rigg sang the solo in a very creditable manner. He has a good bass and it sounded to adad vantage on Suuday night. Mrs Andrew who has, since Miss Phillips left, presided at the harmonium, acquitted herself exceedingly well. She has rendered valuable assistunce to the church as organist. The preacher took his text from the 15th verse of the Bth chapter of Luke, "An honest and good heart." He said it was a difficult thing for one who has been absent from a district for a long timetoguag^ the amount of thanksgiving and gratitude felt by those who come to these festivals, nnd join with them in these thanksgiving servjees. Some men measure thoir gratitude by the amount of their worldly goods while others do so by the goodnes- of God to them. How few of us think of giving thanks to God for a peaceful night's sleep ! How many think of thanking Hun tor the daily rising, shining, and setting of the sun? Let the light of the sun be withdrawn for a time and the result would be disastrous ; no human power could replace it or keep the heavenly bodies in their fixed |>lac '8 ; it wa> God who kept them there, and who caused us to be blessed with their light and huat, yet Imw many were there among the. congregation present to-night who gave H'ra thunks for those great blessings and thus showed an honest and good heart. They knew what the common acception of a <«>od hearted man was. A good hearted man generally died poor in New Zealand; that is a, goodhearted man according to the colonial acceptation of the term, but it had a different definition to the ordinary one so commonly accepted. They understood it to mean gratitude as well as generosity, not the kind of gratitude which has been described as "a lively sense of favours to come." What would they think of a man who asked for a favour and then forgot to be crrnteful for it ; yet this was wh*t our Lord tnet with in his day. There were ten men who were afflicted with a terrible disease, and the laws of the country compelled them to cover their faces and cry out "uuclean" when they met auyone, so that those whom they met might pass on the other side. They met a wayfaring man one day clad in the garb of the comI mou people, but there was something in His eye which told them he was the man of whom they all spake, and they a&ked Him to help them. He did so, and told them to go to the high priest according to the law. Did they return and thank Him for having healed them? One did, and he was a Samaritan, unacquainted with the rules of the country ; the other nine took it as a matter of course, and were not grateful for having been healed. How many of them, if they examined themselves, would find they were possessed of the same feeling of ingratitude to God, in spite of His great and bountiful goodness to them ! He had given them plentiful harvests and other blessings, and they should be grateful to Him for all these. They should cultivate a feeling of gratitude to Him and kindliness to their fellow creatures and this would go a long way towards preparing that giound which would produce an honest and good heart. These festivals could bo made productive of much good if they come there in a rightspirit, ia a spirit of thankfulness to God and kindness to one another. They lived in a fruitful country, one which has been largely blessed by God, though they were doing their best to curse it with big loans— and as God had blessed them so largely then should thank Him and in being thankful to, and blessing Him, they should bless one another." The Church was crowded to excess, some had to go away, and others had to stand at the back and it? the porcti.

Mr Ktm will sell at the HiroiHon Auction Mart on Saturday, produce, furniture, poultry