The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-12-02
GIVING THANKS.

GIVING THANKS.
The Great Neglect of Public Service on
Thanksgiving Day.
Gratitude for benefits received is q
natural impulse Of every unsophisti'
Gated soul. Savages, and even brutes
are capable of it. Favors done, and
gratitude for them, have healed feuds
and reconciled enemies. Ifthine enemy
hunger, feed him; If he thirst, give him
drink; for in SO doing thou shalt heap |
Goals of fire on his head which will burn
out his hatred and make him your de. |
voted friend. History and poetry are |
full of proofs of the power Of kindness
to evoke gratitude from brutes, savages
and enemies. which bound them to their
benefactors in lifelong affection and
self-sacrificing service. Only men who
have become utterly selfish, victims of
a mountainous egotism which causes
them to think that every benefit con-
ferred is their due, that the world and
providence owe them all they can get
and more, seem incapable of gratitude.
They are the moral monstrosities of the
race, the monopolists and tyrants who
fatten on the profits of human toll and
the slavery of subjects, with never a
thought that they are receiving any
more than their rights. They plumber
mankind, and would rob Heaven itself
to feed their Unsuitable lusts.
Such perversion and ,debasement of
soul help to account for the fact that
multitudes neglect tn give thanks unto
the Lord, and forget all His benefits,
insomuch that months and years pass
without any mention by them of the
countless great mercies of God; and
when Thanksgiving day comes only
numerically insignificant frac-
ton of the whole people, and
but small percentage of those who
are Christian, are found in the APP
pointed places Of public thanks and
praise to God. Other causes contribute
to this unpropitious result; such as en-
tire engrossment of the faculties in the
struggle for existence; worldliness
which excludes the Giver of all good
from the thoughts of men; skepti-
clsm, as to whether He is the Giver of
good; and, in a very large proportion
of the population whose lot is one of
hardship and unsatisfied needs, feel
ing that as the prosperous have OBJ.
tanned most OF the bounties of Heaven,
they should do the thanksgiving, and
the disinherited should be excused
from that duty. Why do not
religious people more generally
attend public Thanksgiving services?
Why in towns which sustain from six
to a dozen churches is it found that a
union Thanksgiving service barely fills
one church? Mainly because the
religious are not very reii.
gious. If they were, the duty
of public thanksgiving, so obviously
required by Scripture, and in harmony
with the strongest impulses of truly
devout souls. would be the last that
they could neglect. Private thanks oi
the heart or in the home, or the formal
grace over the roast turkey would
never satisfy these impulses "What,
said the psalmist, ''shall render unto
the Lord for all His benefits toward
me? will pay my vows unto the Lore
in the presence of His people, In the
courts of the Lords house, in the midst
of the congregation, l will praise
Thee"
Our blessings are SO continuous anc
innumerable that we forget they are
gifts of Divine beneficence, and accept
them without thought of their source
as ours by right, as the result of oul
OWN efforts to secure them. Not unit
we realize that it is God who giveth IL;
richly all things to enjoy, that we car
acquire nothing without His help. ant
that but for His bountiful providence
we should have nothing good. shall W.
begin to appreciate His goodnes.
and confess that ingratitude to Him i.
base. So of national blessings; thos,
that cover the whole land with plent,
are too often ascribed to the skill OF
power of secondary agencies, Will,
God, the ultimate and real cause
is retired from thought and hid
den behind the instruments III,
employs to confer His benefactions
In old times men robbed God in tithe
and offerings; now they defrand Hin
of the credit and thanks which are Hi
due for countless blessings by ascrib
ing them to thousand and one natura
and human agencies. Thanksgivin,
Day would justify its appointment if i
would convince men.of only one trutl
that they can have nothing good tia
does not come from God 1t woul
then be necessary for nou-thanksgiver
to show that they have no blessing
whatever in order to justify their in
gratitude. We exhort men to count u
their mercies in order to awaken tn
spirit of gratitude in them. Perhaps w
can reach the same result as well b
challenging them to show that the