Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-12-06
THANKSGIVING DAY SERMON.

delivered by Rev. w. j. johnson OF
Derby ON Thursday, Nov. 25th. Pub
lished by the request of several of his
hearers. Ha4
Psalm 92:I "It is good thing to give
thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises
unto Thy Name, o Most High"
The keynote of to-day's thoughts. and
meditations, and worship, is not minor
but major, not sorrowful but joyful.
Whether our mental acts be those pros1
pective, or retrospective, or introsped
tive; whether we look ahead, or be-
hind or within; the theory at least, o3
the day and appointment is. tha
we catalogue not our miseries but ou
mercies, and that thinking over these
personal, social, ecclesiastical, or ma
tional from lip and heart the joyful
! song of praise shall ascend. that heart,
and home, and temple may chord in the
loud and glad hosanna of thanks. ap
And it is indeed fitting that some one
day in the year should be thus observed
by us both as individuals and as a ma
tion; and that breaking in upon the or
binary routine of business life, we
should lay aside pen, and book, and
plane. and plough, and all the other
instruments of toll, and commemorate
as a people the goodness of God who
gave US breath, who preserves our lives,
who fills our barns with plenty, and
who sends upon us the blessings of ma
tional prosperity.
''It is good thing to give thanks un-
to the Lord" Good, because it is
right; Good, because this spirit of
thankfulness Is the sweetest and most
fragrant of the spirit flowers of the
heart.
The catalogue of the divine mercies,
as those mercies appear upon close
survey, is many volumed one and
within these volumes we may trace
the record of Gods dealings, and find
out something of the sum of our indebt-
edness to Him. Let US then this morn
ing, open one or two of these volumes,
and take peep at their contents. pray
ing that as a result, our lives may be
no longer stunted by complaining. like
sickly plants striving to grow in dark
ened room; but rather that they may
find the true complement of a praiseful
life. and, like we'll watered, sun-bathed
| plants, delight all with the beauty Of
their matured growth, and the fragrance
of their perfect blossoming.
Let the first volume of the catalogue
of the Divine Mercies that we shall
open, be The UOlume of tie PrOvidentiat
blessings that smiled upon the groa0img
crops, and filled oar emptying barns
aoiM an abundant ,fatlaeSs.
And l speak of this first, because in
the great question of material prosperi-
ty. plentiful harvest is the chief fac
tor. What would busy looms, and the
whirl of machinery, and the activities of
mechanical industries, and the sweeping
rush of commerce be, if dearth fell
upon our lands, and blight smote our
crops i? What would heaped-up golden
treasures do for US, if the treasures of
the soil were denied US, and the skele-
ton form of famine stalked through our
land, and brooded in every house They
would be but an aggravation of our
misery, and an addition to our sorrow.
Plentiful harvests and cheap, whole
some bread are the foundations of a ma
tion's peace, and prosperity, and securi-
ty. l speak now of the earthly side Of
the question. lnsurreetion, rloting,
communism and ell these kindred forms
of evil that slumber in crowded commu.
mites, have little or no hope of perma.
nent success in the face of a plentiful
harvest which brings the ''staff of life
within easy reach of the poorest man il
the land.
Some of US will remember that in th,
spring and summer of two years ago
the terrors of communism were threat
ening the Middle States, we know hov
Pittsburg and the vicinity we're tn
scenes of rioting. that for time set a
defiance the power Of the civil law
Some of us will also remember how tn
matter engaged the attention of politica
economists and men of that class tha
the newspapers and magazines wer
filled with articles setting forth anti
/ dotes for the evil and that from tn
} platform, lecturers announced radica
cures for the disease which thus threat
ened the life of the body polite.
But, did the remedy come in the wa
set forth in these various plans wa
: restored order the result of well-d,
vised scheme of emigration to the broa
!, fields of our unoccupied far western te
: ritory; was it the result of the stron
! arm of the law striking terror into tt
i hearts of the evil doers Nay, m
I, friends, but the Good God smiled upc
the labor of the farmer, and as su
and rain in equalized proportion
/. brought bountiful harvests, and the lar