Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1894-12-13
THANKSGIVING SERMON
RFv P. H. Mason

/ and there followed graf voices 10
heaven, and thew said. The kingdom OF
the world is become he kingdom of our
| L nd ard his Christ: and be shall reign
forever and ever.
We don't think hslf as much of our
moral stomachs as we do of our pbysic-
al stOmachs We are always thanking
God because we have plenty of pork.
beans. butter and eggs. and beeisteak
and hot biscuit We have
more occasion 10 thank God this year
thai he has been giving US harvest for
our moral stomachs Now if We only
have sense enough 10 cook it and eat II
| Our emacisted moral frame will begin
to fill out and show signs of health and
vigOr.
am disposed to say that here is on
" one thing that we should be thankful
for. lii will make the meaning
any clearer / will say there is ony one
taing we should rejDice over, and that is
tnatsonIe progressnHsbeen made toward
the realiz ,tion of this vision of the apo
stle Jchu. He heard great voices in the
heaven which said. The kingdom of the
world is become the kingdom OF our
Lord and of his Chrl.t; and he shall
reign forever and ever.
We thank God for Innumerable bless
ings of personal and temporal char
acter and we rejoice that there is a
movement toward the contamination
of his infinite purpose Ii not, then
this day should be unto US day of sad
ness and weeping rather.
The kingdom of this world is to be-
come the kingdomof the Lord. The apo
stle does not mean by world this globe
of dust aud rock upon which we stand;
he means this morallworld of humanity,
he means the divine law shall be the
law of the kingdoms which men have
orgs zed and established
And the kingdom of this world will be-
| come the kingdom of the Lord only
with his will becomes supreme.
God was incarna'ed in Christ. Christ
was dominated blythe divine will. Every
word and every deed of his was hut an
expression of the divine will. He in
corporates this petition in his model
pr .yer, Thy will be done in earth as in
heaven" Ia Gelhsemane he said
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine
be done. duke 22:39 46)
He said 10 his deciples at Jacobs well
when they urged him to eat something:
II haye meat TO eat that ye know not.
My meat is 10 do the will OF him that
sent me and to accomplish his work"
(John 4:34)
He said TO the Jews, 81 can of myself
do nothing; as hear, judge, and my
judgment is righteous; because ! seek
not mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me" (John5:30l
He said to the multitude that follow
cd him after he had fed them, "For /
am come down from heaven not to do
my own will, but the will of him that
sent me. (John $3.50
God was incarnate in Christ. Christ
became the door through which God
sought TO pour himself out into the
world. Christ sought to incarDate God
in his diciples that the divine incarna-
ton might be permanently established
in the world. God is to be in
carnated ia the church, but his incarna-
lion is not to s op there. II is to go on
spreadin 2untilthe kingdom of this world
shall be like Jesus Christ himself, the
iucarna ion of the infinite and holy God.
He is 10 be inearnate in the city council
of Lancaster; in the capitol at Madison;
in the court house and city hall # Chi
cago; in the police force Of New York
City; Git requires large stretch of the
imagination To conceive sucha possible
tY) in the halls of Congress at Washing.
ton; IN the executive mansion called the
White House; in the homes of America;
in the workshops;in the railroad offices;
in the factories in the corporations in
the labor unions; under the coat of pea.
SAINT and king; in your life and
mine.
Did you ever 90 into caucus where
you thought God reigned9 where God
seemed to be and the whole conduct of
the meeting seemed to be directly under
the control of the divine will9 There is |
blue cloud there out of which He
might speak, but 1t is not the kind of
cloud that envelopes the divine Pres |
ence. Have you ever found Him |
reign ng supreme in office. factory, |
shop or storep Possibly you have gone |
into some home where YOU could rec |
ogniZe the presence of God and the su- |
premacy Of His will
What have we 10 thank God for this |
year? We have rot mad the abundant |
harvestS that we sometimes have, |
though there is enough for all, il II were
properly distributed. and probably |
some to spare. 1t has not been year |
Of case and comfor; and plenty. We
have been tossed by social earthquakes: |
-drouth and fires and strikes and |
financial depression and industrial |
stagnaron. Drouth has not been uni |
versa; il has been confined to locall- |
ties.
We are saved from universal
famine, we are spared from the pangs
of hunger We may thank God for
what that indicates. There is vet
righteousness enough to save us from
the fate that fell upon Sodom and
Gomorrah; our cup OF sin is not vet
full; God has not seen fit to overwhelm
us with deluge of fires from heaven.
His dealings with us are still discipl-
nary.
The sufferings of this year are but
tha biTt h-thrOnS of tho 1fvina ;,na.