Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-11-27
THANKSGIVING.

tHC IySuJtSIldu SHuIClI IHuIouuJ
was more largely attended than any
previous thanksgiving service ever
held here. The ministers of the
various churches participated in the
exercises. We give below the full
text of the sermon delivered by Rev.
Il. M. Mcconnell.
".PraiSe the Lord, for the Lord is
good. Sing praises INTO his name; for
ii Is pLeosant."-Ps. 1858.
The example and the influence of
our pious Pilgrim Fathers are felt to-
day in many q heart and home; and
the echoes of their joyous songs float
far and wide throughout the length
and breadth of this land of light and
liberty. But long centuries before
they originated the time honored GUS
tom which calls us together at this
hour, happy hearts quivered with
feelings. of gratitude, and joyous
tongues gave utterance to notes of
praise. In fact praise and thanksgiv-
ing are as old as humanity itself, and
constituted mans original worship.
When God had finished his work of
creation he placed man in the world
to officiate as priest in the great
temple ofnature, to offer up the in
cense of praise and gratitude in be-
half of the mute inhabitants of the
world, so that "to glorify God is the
chief end" of his existence, and to of
fer praise his natural employment.
In fact all other acts of worship are
necessities, originating in and grow
ing out of mans fallen condition, and
bear upon them them the unmistak-
able marks of imperfection. Prayer
implies want, confession implies
guilt, preaching implies ignorance,
but praise comes freighted with the
memories of Eden, and speaks only
of innocence and joy. But not only
does praise thus antedate all other
acts of worship, it will also survive
all other acts, and will constitute the
worship of Heaven, so that it chalen-
ges our especial attention, not only
as a sweet souvenir of mans print
tive purity, but also as prophecy
and pledge of his future blessedness.
1t is an act of worship common alike
to the church militant and the church
triumphant, and lifts the human soul
up into communion and fellowship
with angels. Itapproaches nearer tC
a pure and perfect act of worship than
than any other, because it is the most
disinterested part of our religious
service, having in it more of God an6
less of self than any other act.
Strictly speaking there is a differ
ence between praise and thanksgiv
ing, the one having reference to the
character, the other to the conduct o
God. We praise God for what he is
we thank him for what he does, bu
the Bible uses the terms interchange
ably and so | shall do, and not only
so, but likewise to denote the joyous
feelings of the heart, as well as thu
mere act of expressing them, for thu
feeling of gratitude is inseparabl'
from the act of praise, if it begenuin,
worship.
This feature of religious worship
then, is as old as man, and was doubt
less sacredly preserved by Adam as ;
mementO of his Eden home. Afte
his expulsion from its blissful bower
he no doubt often gathered his famil.
around the blazing altar, at which h,
officiated as their patriarch and priest
to give thanks to God for some sigma
blessing. ...
At any rate we know that Noah
as soon as he emerged from the ark
gathered his family around him, AM
held thanksgiving service on the rug
ged sumit of Ararat, and Abraham
after the rescue of his son Isaac
mingled the incense of a grateful
heart with the ascending smoke G
sacrifcial fires, as they blazed ami'
the sublime solitudes of Moriah ;whil
Moses, surrounded by the might,
multitudes of emancipated Israel, lie,
in song of praise, whose merr
music sounds in striking contras
with the doleful dirge of the Red Sea
beneath whose sobbing surges Go
himself immersed the host c
Egypt.
In fact the thanksgiving day of tn
present is but the natural and legit
mate successor of the old Jewish feas
of Tabernacles, which was held some
time in October after the harvest ha
all been gathered in, and was obserN
ed by the people with every demon