Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-11-27
THANKSGIVING ssSERMON'' FOR
@ -TsxE OCCASION. ~

DENTAL blessings of the year now draw
ing to close. Let it be observed ac-
cordingly-not in the mere cessation of
ordinary pursuits, but in genuine heart
offerings to Deity for the multifold and
substantial comforts and blessings that
all have enjoyed. Let therefore the day
be marked as a pause, a period, where
IN all can and viii turn from worldly
pursuits and purposes, review the past
and cast the dip Horoscope Of the
future. It is a day alike for the dis
eased and the healthful; for the oppres-
sor and the oppressed; for theplunderer
and the plundered; for the proud and
the lowly; for the rich and the poor. Il
turns our contemplations from the
fierce and bitter contests of the world,
to the contemplation of higher and no.
bier things, and to listen to the severe
criticisms of conscience. In the pulpit.
the day IS useful beyond contemplation.
1t may, if properly used, be worth a
month. a year, or decade Of ordinary
time.
Reader, "what will you do with it,"
The following humorous, but withal
sensible sermon, which originally ap-
peared in the Boston Couriey many
years ago, will be found peculiarly APP
propriate to the occasion, at least by
many wbe viii hear or read no other
sermon:
a merry heart doeth good like medicine.
but broken spirit drieth the bones-Proverbs
XVII, q.
The words of the wise man deserve es-
pecial regard, for this is an occasion when
it is good to be merry and wise. There
are three hundred and odd DAYS in the
year besides this, when a man NAV be
melancholy without setting at nallght the
Governors proclamatiem but once in the
year there is reason in feeling comfortable.
The wise fhan is assured right in prescrib-
ing his medicine for unhappy mofals, sick
OF sin and sea coal, the pinch in the money
market, and the palpitation in the puce of
breadsuifs. HO, every one that thirsteth
Tor relief from the cares that cash is heir to,
come We to Doctor Solomon, ard take
little Of his balm of Gilead in the shape of
merry heart, 1t Is not to be ''taken fast
ing nor will it make any person quake
with fear, though when taken it may be
well shaken-not under the cork stopper of
wry face, but through the liberal tunnel
of a broad grin. A merry heart doeth
good like a medicine; and who does not
wish to do good to himself withsuch pleas
ant kind OF doctors stuff? Verify, the
faculty in old times were wiser in their
generation than many of the modern NJ.
DIS.
There are three things under the sun.
yea, four, which, on Thanksgiving dav. are
to be eschewed Of men: The small soul of
parsimOny, and the grumbling bowels of
covetouSness, the broken spirit Of thankless
repining and the dry bones Of cold I'M
charitablenesS. There is none of the bright
medicine in these drugs, which deserves to
be all pounded in the stone mortar and
worked up into blue pill Of more infinit-
isimal littleneSs than any quantity vet pre-
cribed in a homeopathic formula. But to-
day we are hidden to be thankful: and
whether we think of the bidding or not, it
Is to be hoped that we can all find cause to
offer thanks.
To be thoughtful this day in duty both
enioined upon us by the executive author
ity and urged by our own feelings Of what
is fit and becoming. Thankfulness implies
c0ntent-cOntent indicates good humor-
good hImor IS cheerfulness, and whose
has Z cheerful heart, has perforce a merry
one. 1t IS therefore as clear as preaching,
that King Solomon and the Governor are
both Of one mind as to the proper way of
keeping Thanksgiving, and where is the
son Ofman IN this commonwealth who will
undertake to cOntroyert their Joint author
ity? If Lhere be any such dry bone Of
dOubter ahong us, let him suck the wooden
spoon Of adversely, gnaW the dry trum-Stick
OF his own dOgmatiS'p, and sit down in
sceptical sack cloth and ashes till his more
sensible and rebelliOus stomach barks for
dinner. Let him dine upon a dish of
doubts and 90 to bed in the gI7Iel Of glIm-
bling and groaning. But we hope there is
none such.
So let us be reasonably thankful, and not
UnreasOnably may We also be Of a merry
heart, Let those who are in health be
thankful for their ease; and those who are
ont Of health be thankful that they are no
worse. Let those who are rich be thankful
for their wealth; and those who are poor
find reason for thankfuIness in having so
little to do with the root of all evil. Let
old folks be thankful for their wisdom in
knowing that young folks are fools; and let
the young ones be even with them in
thanktulness and good opinion. By think
4 -. 7 Il
lean folks be thankful for their spare ribs,
and let the fat folks be thankful that they
laugh at the lean ones and GROW fatter and
fatter every day. Let him who is in debt
be thankful that he is not in limbo for it;
and let him who IL out Of debt do the same,
and call at our house and let us know what
sort ofa feeling it is. Let those who aIein
office put up all the thanks they can I'M
agine that merit is at last rewarded; and
let those who are out Of office utter thanks
also that the country does not insist upon
their eating sour grapes. Let married folks
be thankful for blessings both little and
great; let bachelors and oldmaids be thank
full for the privilege of kissing other folks
babies, and much good may it DO them.
The words of the wise man are as plums
in pudding, to he swallowed with the
gravity Of discenment, and laid to the
heart in the sweet sauce Of quiet recollec-
ton. Let no man look upon turkey to-
day, and say: 'sThis also is yanityw What
is the life Of man without creature COM
forts, and the stomach of the son Of man
without aid from the tin kitchen? Despise
not the day Of small things while there are
pullets on the spit, and let every fowl have
fair play between the jaws of thy philoso-
ply. Are not puddings made to be sliced,
and pie-crust to be broken? Go thy ways,
then, according to good sense, good cheer,
good appetite, the Governors Proclamation,
and every other good thing under the sun,
render thanks for the good things of this
good cooking among the rest
eat, drink and be merry; make not a lean
laudation ofthe bounties of Providence,