The consciousness of the divine providence was emphasized in the confession:
“Thou My Daily Task Shall Give”
When sixty ministers, heads of various Summer Schools of Ministerial Training in the Methodist Episcopal Church, met in Evanston, Illinois, to review the work of the previous year and to plan for the future, the leader of the devotions one morning called attention to a hymn of great personal value. Then, on that January day, it was sung with deep feeling as the ministers were just entering on their task for another year. This hymn was written by a layman, Josiah Conder, who “passed a busy life as bookseller, editor and author.” It is well worth committing to memory; at least, such was the conviction of that group of ministers who sang:
“Day by day the manna fell:
O to learn this lesson well!
Still by constant mercy fed,
Give me, Lord, my daily bread.
‘Day by day,’ the promise reads,
Daily strength for daily needs:
Cast foreboding fears away;