Huntsville gazette., 1883-11-17
THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS.

THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS.
We count too often only the rosary of
our outward properties, and measure
our gratitude too much by the shining
pearls of our successes, as we sit in
silent review of the year at the Thanks
giving service. There is deeper and a
truer thankfulness than this, and Mr..
Howells has put it into strong verse:
Lord, for the errng thought
Not into evil wrought
Lord. for the wicked will
Betrayed and baffled still:
For the heart from itself kept,
Our Thanksgiving accept.
For ignorant hopes that were
Broken to our blind prayer;
For pain, death, sorrow sent
Unto our chaStiSement;
For all loss of seeming good
Quicken our gratitude.
There is a truer prosperity than that
which counts its bank notes. its bonds,
stocks and bushels Of wheg For health
and vigor, for increase of goods, for un-
broken family circles and for unsun-
dered friendships it is our duty to give
thanks; but is ThanksgivingDay only
for those who are prosperous as the
world counts prosperity? Is there to
be no song Of rejoicing, no prayer of
gratitude to the Infinite Giver from the
households that are darkened and the
hearts that are desolateo "ThOugh He
slay me yet will | trust HIM." said the
noble old man out of whose opulent life
whirlwind Of trouble had swept every
possession, every earthly affection, every
earthly hope.
We thank God for the flower; we do
not thank Him enough for the seed.
We thank Him for the perfect fruit; we
do not thank Him enough for the long,
slow process by which the fruit ripens.
We thank Him for the summer, with its
soft air and its masses of fragrant color;
we do not thank Him for the win
ter, with its blasts and its SHOWS. And
yet His goodness is as great in the cold
as in the heat, in the storm as in the
calm, in the cloud as in the sunshine.
We are continually asking for courage
and fOrtitude, but when the hard and
perilous times come which mold our
feebleness into strength and transform
our timorousness into bravery, we do
not see that our prayer is being an
swered; we send up daily petitions for
patience, but when annoyances and per-
plexities throw their meshes over us
and train us into the very habit we ask
for, we fail to read in them the reply Of
Divine Providence. Our heartfelt long
ing is for the development Q the high
est and noblest things that are in us,
but our Thanksgiving limits itself too
often to the comforts and pleasures that
satisfy our poorest cravings. We are
thankful to be comfortable when we
ought to rejoice that God will not suffer
US to find comfort in any but the high
est things.
We need to thank God that He de-
livers us from ourselves; that He de-
MES our wishes, thwarts our plans, de-
feats our purposes. The true thanks
giving service must make room for ev-
cry son of man, however afflicted or
sorrowing; it is not feast for the rich
and happy; it has its prayer of graft
tude and its psalm Of praise for the
poor and the afflicted. We must re-
joice not in ourselves but in God; we
must count not on our own prosperi-
tiles, but the ministries of His infinite
love- He lives and we live in Him; His
life sweeps our little lives within the
impregnable circle Of an unchanging
and an unfailing love- Wealth comes
with the morning, and at night it has
taken wings and is gone; pleasure
smiles upon us. and then hides herself;
friends come close to our innermost
souls, and then vanish out Of sight:
hands that minister to us grow cold,
eyes that shine like stars of hope upon
us are closed, hearts that beat for us
are stilled; but God abides, and the
mighty power Of His immortality makes
all that we worthily love imperishable.
Faith lays the foundation of an hour
ly and eternal gratitude. and gives the
keynote of an everlasting song. We
are weak, but One is strong, and we
lean on Him forever; we are but for a
day, but One is for eternity. and we
breathe the air of His immortality: our
lives change and are at the mercy of
winds and storms, but One holds the
winds in the hollow of His hands. and
de is our God, our Friend. our Com
forter. We can not tell what day
may bring forth, but the future unrolls
ike scroll before His gaze we do not
know the possibilities of our own ma
lures nor what to ask for when we
crave blessing; He sees the seeds of
immortal beauty and fruitage that are
sown in US, He brings the winter that
fertilizes and protects the soil, the sum
mer that enrichcs and vitilizes
1t, the autumn that brings mel
low and beautiful fruit. We see o,1r-