The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-05-22
a Thankful Spirit.

OF always looking on the bright side of |
things. 1t is fine faculty, or perhaps |
we should rather say, it is high at
tainment in grace to be able to find good |
in everything, and to get good out of
everything. Outward circumstances of
disquiet unquestionably have some
power to mar the peace even of the best |
men. But it would be hard to make one
habitually unhappy who had accustomed
himself to see Gods hand in every event |
of life, to live in daily acknowledgment
of blessings received from sthat Divine
hand, and thus practically to have
reached the point of finding good in
everything, and getting good form every
thing.
Now is it not the duty and the privi-
lege of every child of God thus to live?
Is there any Christian life 50 utterly
destitute of good things as to have moths
ing to be thankful for? Are there not
in every life and in every lot, even to the
humblest and the hardest, many daily
blessings-msny exemptions from evil
and many signal interpretations of good,
in what are called the common mercies
of life, which we ought to recognize as
coming from God, and which we ought
to receive and acknowledge with a
thankful spirit ? But in the great ma
jority of cases, how are our lives abso>
lutely filled with blessings, multiplied
from hour to hour, and repeated from
day to day, if we had but eyes to see
them and hearts to be grateful for them.
If we do not see them and feel them, it
is because we will not. We do not
think; we do not take time to consider,
else we could say with David, "Whoso
is wise and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord"
OF course it requires faith, strong
faith in God, to live this life of cheerful
acquiescence liz the allotments of Provi,
denoe, and of grateful acknowledgment
for the blessings which every day brings
to US. But every Christian ought to
have just this kind OF faith. It is the
faith which the bible everywhere en-
joins, the faith which was 80 emphati-
cally taught and exemplifed by Christ
himself. A thousand passages might be
cited from scripture to show the reality,
the value, the blessedness of such
, faith. 1t is a working faith, living
faith, happy faith, an overcoming
I faith. 1t surmounts all obstacles, smooths
away all the little annoysnces of daily
life, spreads perpetual sunshine over the
, heart and over the household, even on
, the darkest days, because it has learned
to accept everything as coming from
, God, and therefore as coming fraught
with blessings from His loving hand.
As practical directory of life, what
/ more does any child of God need to as
! sure his heart in peace, and to make him
happy, than to enter daily into the
) spirit of passages like the following,
l which may be cited as specimens of all
= bible teaching on the subject: "In all
3 thy ways acknowledge Him, and He
shall direct thy paths" Prov. iii: 6.
e "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
; whose mind is stayed on Thee, because
y he trusteth in Thee Isaiah xiv :: 8.
"Be careful for nothing, but in every
. thing, by prayer and supplicstion with
Thanksgiving, let your requests be
made known unto God. And the
, peace of God which pssseth all UNDER
. standing shall keep your hearts and
( minds through Christ Jesus" Phil.
i've, 7. "Let your conversation be
{ without covetousness, and be content
. with such things as We have, for He hath
{ said, will never leave thee nor forsake
/ thee. So that we may boldly say, the
. Lord is my keeper, and / will not fear
. what man shall do unto me-" Heb.
! xiii:5, 6. Can Christian man or woman
E enter every morning upon the work of
the day in the spirit of passages like
. these, and carry that trustful, hopeful,
happy spirit into everything, great and
j small, favorable or unfavorable, without
/ thereby Transforming life into sunshine,
S and peace, and joy? Try it, oh, sadly
e dropping and gloomily respondent
r Christian heart. Try it for day, or
e week, or month, or 8 year; and see
e how it will work. Try it long enough
to see, if you have not discovered a
great, hidden spring of happiness where
! there had been none before. Try it, for
it is your privilege as Gods child, to
have the full benefit of a consolation
which springs from Gods own prescrip-
ton.
Some will ask, Is it possible in this
age of doubt and unbelief, to live such a
, life of faith? The answer is, Thousands
: of true Christians in sll parts of the
world, are in fact living it to-day, just