The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-11-25
AT ST. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL.

this forenoon, at the Cathedral:
"Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father IN
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"
After briefly referring to the his
tory of the annual Thanksgiving
Festival as observed in New Eng
land and afterwards throughout the
whole of the United States, the
preacher said:
As we keep this day, dear friends,
conformity with grea, people in
thanking God for the blessings of
the fruitful earth, for law. order
and civilization, for free speech, and
for liberty of conscience to serve
God and our fellowmen, as reason,
conscience and Divine revelation in
struct us, let us give our minds to
few thoughts upon which we may
mediate with profit.
The romantic and genial features
surrounding this celebration as we
see it in the past, may, we fondly
trust, long surround the day with
| beneiicent influences. AS we deplore
| secularized Christmas, SO must
we deplore Thanksgiving Day into
which the thought of God does not
enter. There is no historical
Thanksgiving without the worship
of God, the word Of God, the house
of God, and the grace of God in
yoked upon the festival meal, max
ing it religious. These godly ele-
ments can not be left out without
defacing and dishonoring the occa-
sion. Let sneers at piety, fashion
and frivolity, politics, mercantile
greed, and "an irrational rationa-
| lism' crowd these aside and thank
lessness takes The place OF thanks
giving.
Men or women who take the
gifts, make merry over the bounty,
eat the fat and drink the sweet, and
forget utterly the Providing Father,
while they may not be avowe dis
believers or atheists are guilty of the
meanest ingratitude and shew that
in them the lusts of the flesh have
had their vulgar triumph over the
things of the spirit. We shall be
true to our Christian faith in refusing
to empty any day of solemnity and
worship of its significance and
meaning.
AS society is elevated and Christ
ian civilization advances men come
to a higher appreciation of the higher
reasons for gratitude. The Thanks
giving Day is not for return of
praise to God for the fruits of the
Earth alone. If we are at all thank
full to God for the blessings of this
life, we will reflect upon the COM
parative worth OF The several in
gradients which satisfy us, and for
which we toll. We must take into
consideration as calling for devout
acknowledgment many things which
three generations ago no sermon
could have mentioned, which the
sun had not ripened, nor the inven-
tive genius of man discovered, nor
the explorer found, nor the earth
widened TO give them room.
The devout and well instructed
christian will in his Thanksgiving
include special recognition of what
science has done to unfold the won
drous secret of the constant connec-
ton between the creation and the
creator whom we adore, as the all
wise, all powerful, all loving per-
sonai God, whose mercy is over all
His works, We give God thanks
that after period of jealousy and
panic the reconciliation of faith and
science has begun-and that, every
day, science is affording to faith, in
every department of civilization,
from the least to the greatest, mag
nificent illustrations of the ceaseless
working of God in the things that
He has made. For every good book
which gives added clearness TO the
demonstration that the Divine au-
thor of nature is the God of grace !;
, for every discovery in the healing
art whereby pain is soothed or
disease arrested; for every addi-
ton to knowledge of the laws of
health, whereby physical living is
made sweeter and cleaner; for the
clearer comprehension of the true
relations of capital and labour; for
the increased mutual knowledge OF
the nations and faces of men on
earth, whereby animosities are
soothed, wrongs redressed, misun-
derstandings removed, civilization
advanced and christianity promoted
ed, we render thanks TO God.
There are indeed many voices in
; the world that in this wonderful
time are telling Of the high hopes OF
the future extension of the king
dom of God, in the growing desire
for Christian unity and the mission
ary activity of all Christendom.
None of these voices is without
signification, and the wise worship
per who thinks upon these things
will find new meaning in his
psalms and hymns of praise.
Most of all we thank the tribune
God for the graces and benefits
which are in Christ Jesus. Thanks
giving Day is especially n day OF
blessing God for the things of the
body and the material life. The