The Portland daily press., 1874-11-28
THANKSGIVING SERVICES.
Abstracts of Discourses preached by Rev.
Messrs. Hill, Smaller, NceIcy, Dole and
Hayden.

The following are abstracts of Thanksgiving
discourses preached in the several churches in
this city Thanksgiving day:
FIRST PARISH.
At the First Parish church DR.. Hill took
his text from Is. XIV. 6. 'And in this noun
tain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all
people feast of fat things"
lie thought this prophecy of the Messiah's
reign had been fulfilled. There had been
many thousands of believers in Christ, in all
the Christian centuries, who had found a joy
and peace in believing beyond the power of
Language to express. No philosophy had ever
lifted man higher than to endure pain with
fortitude. grief with patience, but Christian
faith. sympathy with and trust in the suffer-
ing, dying, risen and assembled Lord had given
intense happiness in the midst of the heaviest
Affections. We may therefore put aside for a
few minutes the remembrance of the suffering
in the world, as something which could cer-
tainly be overcome by the power of Christ,
and take glance at some of the pleasures in
the feast of life. The banqueting hall is ele-
gantly frescoed and adorned with paintings
and statuary. The scenes of nature and her
forms are constantly before the waking eve,
and they are full of beauty the sculptors
and painters of the world have gained their
renown by attempts to copy the beauty of
nature. and the more renown in proportion
to the closeness of their copy. There
is music also in the feast of
life, the song of birds, the roar of storm, and
the whisper of the breeze, the hum of busy
life. and the music of those whom God has
inspired with peculiar talent for their divine
art,-every sound in nature is music to the
ear that is capable of appreciating. How ad-
mirably also the hall is warmed and ventila-
ted, by the harmonious adaptation of plants
and animals to each other, and the peculiar
properties of water in its threefold form of a
regulator of heat and cold. Then there is the
hveliest and the most instructive conversa-
ton ever going on, and each new discovery in
art and science reported and discussed as
soon as made Comedies are enacted for the
amusement of the guests, and tragedies for
their instruction, and each guest is actor and
spectator by turn.
But did we ask, how are these. pleasures
peculiar to the Messiah's times, then DIR.
Hill would answer that they are not, but their
enjoyment is. In heather lands even in the
best days of Greece and Rome, there was
such carnival of sin, and so much war, dis
cord, foulness and misery, that even the best
men and best families had comparatively little
enjoyment Of the blessings of life. Now we
all enjoy each others society and the arts and
pleasures of peace. But best of all we are
now taught, under the Messiah's reign, to
recognize the presence of the Master of the
Feast,-the triumph over suffering of which
he spoke in the beginning of his discourse
was attained through faith in the living
presence of God and of Christ in the heart;
through the witness of the spirit within =.
us, that the promise of the Lord Jesus is in
deed fulfilled and that both He and His
sFather enter the heart which is opened at
His gentle knocking, and fill it with a peace
that passeth understanding, making him par
taker in an Interchangeable, immortal life
FIRST BAPTIST.
An appropriate discourse was delivered by
Rev. DR.. Shailer, pastor of the First Baptist
church, from l. Samuel Xxx. 6. "For there is a
yearly sacrifice there for all the family
From this text the preacher deduced as
subject "Family gatherings: How rendered
desirable AMI pleasant.
He spoke Of the yearly gathering of the
family OF Jesse, the father of David, at
Bethlehem, called yearly sacrifice or festival
for all the family. Little was known of the
family, except the name of the father, who
had eight sons. In some respects our day for
thanksgiving bore resemblance to that,
though its origin was not traced to that.
Ours was yearly, and for all the family. And
to much greater extent than ON any other
day in the year, members of families were ac-
customed to meet, either at the old home, or
at the home of some member OF branch of the
family. Such gatherings, desirable because
pleasant and profitable in many respects, we're
clearly illustrated.
1t was then shown that our highest ideal of
the family relation, and home influence, could
be realized only where Christianity prevailed
We were largely indebted to woman for the
attachments in such families, and the hal
lowed influence of such homes, and her posi-
ton and elevation, as now realized, were to
be attributed to Christianity 1t was shown
by historical facts, clearly arranged and pre-
sented, that under no other system of re-
ligion, and under none of the older systems
of civilization were the condition and char
acter of woman such as to give her the influ-
ence which she has in our New England
homes. Christianity had raised her to that
position and through its refining and sancti
flying influence, prepared her to be the centre
OF our domestic circles, the guardian of their
virtues, and the attractive bond of our families
And all this should awaken devout gratitude
and Thanksgiving. The congregation was
large, and the sermon listened to throughout
with attention