Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-28
DEPENDENCE ON GOD.
The Idea Which Rev. DR.. McKin
Thinks Thanksgiving Day Represent

The Idea Which Rev. DR.. McKim
Thinks Thanksgiving Day Represents
There was very large congregation at
the Church of the Epiphany this morning
for the special Thanksgiving day service.
The church was beautifully decorated for
the occasion with the grasses and fruits of
the season, which were tastefully arranged
about the chancel and altar. The music was
by the vested choir of the church and the
hymns chosen were appropriate to the har-
vest time.
The sermon was delivered by Rev. DR.. R.
H. Mckim, the rector of the church, and
was on the subject of the duty that man
owes in the recognition of his dependence
upon his Maker for all the good things of
life.
DR.. McKim took for his text the verse
from the song of the Psalmist, BLESS the
Lord. OH my soul, and forget not all His
benefits"
The principle which underlies our festival
of Thanksgiving, said DR.. McKim, has been
recognized from primeval times. Upon the
first page of the history of man we read
that Cain raised an altar to God and
brought the fruits of the earth to offer
upon it. God was not displeased with this
act Of his, but with the spirit that ami
mated him.. So it was through the patri-
archal times and the times of Moses. Three
OF the greatest festivals We're intended to
show, in visible FORM the dependence of
the people upon the beneiicence of God
through the fertility of the ground and
the return of its increase. Passover and
Pentecost We're essentially festivals of
Thanksgiving, while this was particularly
so OF the feast of the tabernacle, to which
our Thanksgiving is the true successor
Mans Dependence.
God did and does desire that there should
be the expression of mans dependence upon
Him and of his gratitude to Him. of which
the offering of the fruits of the ground
We're but symbol. So it is right that we
should say, Give us this day, and give us
day by day our daily bread This it is
that Thanksgiving day really means and
that the keynote of the church service is
the recognition of the fact that We are de-
pendent upon God for the fruits of the
earth. There is peculiar fitness from this
point of view in the ceebra ton of Thanks
giving at this date and at this time for
there is the constant danger that We will
drift away from the realization of the fact
that God is the God of nature,a as well as of
revelation.
peat themselves, and it is no small part of
the benefcence of God that He has estab-
lished this order and regularity. The fruits
that We enjoy come from His hands as
truly as If an angel from heaven brought
them direct to our doors.
The trend of modern thought is such as
to make US forget that it is God acting
through the processes of nature, and God s
gifts come to US with such regularity that
We are liable to forget that they come from
Him. The most important lesson we can
receive from this celebration is a realizing
sense that we are Gods children and live
by the bounty of His hands
A Spirit of Thnnkfulness.
We should be thankful for the simplest
and commo nest blessings that surround our
daily lives-ar and sunlght-things with
which we are so familiar that we hardly
stop to give them thought. They are no
less great because they are common, but
they are all the more likely to be forgotten
because they are. Yet they are even great
goodness and mercy; they are the daily
miracles repeated constantly for the COM
fort ana happiness of His children.
I'VE in America at this time" continued
DR.. Mckim, have many blessings to be
thankful for. Chief among these is the
national blessing of civil and religious lib
erty." Then he went on to contrast our
condition with the condition of the Arme-
mans in Asia Minor, who are in daily fear
of outrage or death.
1.-The reason for the establishment of our
festival of Thanksgiving is the reality of
the relationship that exists between God
and His children.
But you ask me whether God needs our
praise. l answer that by asking you an
other question. Does a human father need
the love and appreciation of his children
No less does our Father who is in heaven"