Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-12-02

tentment is found, not in increasing our sup.
plies, but in diminishing our necessities.
Religion also produces trustfulness for the
future and contentment with the present.
The preacher then passed to the contempla-
ton of the reasons of thankfulness and why
we ought to be thankful. We all have some
thing to BE- thankful for. Our present condi-
ton was contrasted with that Of the Pilgrims,
who amid the solitudes Of the great wilder.
ness, the cry Of the wild beast, and the roar
of the strong wind, the loved homes of their
childhood and the precious temples of their
fathers far away over the waters, barren
soil beneath their feet and above the cold and
cherries azure OF stranger heaven, could
sing triumphantly their songs Of Thanksgiving.
And can we be less thankful in our comfort
able and luxurious homes? And then those
beloved forms that sit at your boards to day
those gentle voices, sweeter to your soul
than the voices Of angels, that make blessed
its chambers. Yes, and more. That precious
bible that shines there as a heavenly lamp.
That family altar at whose side there lifts
new ladder from Bethel to the skies, with its
descending Seraphim. And then all these
unnumbered social civil national and relig-
ious beatitudes which surround that mortal
tabernacle, shekinah lustres round the tents
OF the exodus. Your lot seems to be revela-
ton of the golden dreams of the old Hebrew
prophets. Verify, you have cause for graft
tude. For your own sake and the sake of
your soul, you ought to be thankful Do not
nurse and brood over Affections. Bury the
dead blessing God takes from you with befit-
ting rites of lamentation, but do not embalm
the dead thing as a memorial, and keep it as
an everlasting spectre Of misery in the midst
of your dwellings. LIES roses, indeed, have
thorns, and life's music its undertones. Some
Of you have come up to Gods house to-day
from homes made sad by bereavements. But
yet even with you God has not forgotten to
be gracious, and has sustained and comforted
you.
As professed christians we ought to mani
fest the abiding spirit of JOY and thanksgiving.
How does religion suffer when it is exhibited
to the world in the life of sad-faced and
sad-hearted professor? Suppose an angel
should come down from the skies and walk
up and down among men with his brow
wrinkled with sadness, and his eyes dim with
tears. If Gods car, with its flaming cour-
sers, stood all shining at your threshold,
where is the man among you that would
mount it gladly, and with a bounding heart
spring exultingly toward heaven whose very
angels seem wretched? The world judges of
your eternal sovereign and your heavenly IA
Their when his professsd subjects and children
60 murmuring and complaining about the
earth.
in conclusion, the speaker exhorted his
hearers to give free course to their grateful
emotions. Thankful for the present, trustful
for the future, let us rejoice before the Lord
As the old Hebrew husbandman came
with his offerings of first fruits, forgetting.
in his present moods Of joy, all past Dispute
tudes-the weary toll of seed-time and watch
ing, the wild storm, the chilling blight, the
devouring insect,-forgetting these, or re-
membering them only to deepen his sense of
divine goodness which, in spite of them all,
brought the full corn to the earing-so let US,
forgetful of all past disquietudes-all shadows
that have darkened our sunshine, all storms
that have tempted and vexed us,-forgetting
all these, or remeH bering them only as new
reasons for present thankfulness, turning
from all shadows of griefs, from all valleys
of sadness, if thitherward have wandered our
pilgrim feet, and coming up, this morning, to
the serene mountain top, where the sun
shines. and the dews of heaven lie fair and
sweet-only mindful of and thankful for the
present hours of joy-standing thus together
on earth's high places, let US be strong and
rejoice in the loving kindness of our God.