St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-19
HELD AT CLINTON AyENUn
CHURCH IN WEST ST.
PAUL.
AN APPROPRIATE SERMON
ON ElTHE FRUITFUL AND RolTN,
TIFUL YEAR,17 DELIVERED
BY REV. j. C. HULL.
GRAIN FROM WRIGHT COUNTY
Used to Decorate and CeIebr.ta a
service of TiimnkfuIness to
the Giver of All,

Yesterday morning the beautiful
audience room of Clinton Avenue
church was tastcfully decorated
with graln, fruits, house plants and
wild flowers, the occasion being a
harvest Thanksgiving service. Con-
splcuous among the decorations were
an immense bundle of wheat and
oats shipped from the farm of John
Ferrel, in Wright county, espe-
clally. for the occasion. In front of
the altar railing on the handsome
oak table were a number of fruit
dishes laden with fine peaches. pears.
grapes and bunch of white cauIi-
hover, measuring thirty-three inches
in circumference, While from the
choir loft hung splendid clusters of
Wild flowers, made UP chiefly of gold
en- rod and yellow daisies.
The pastor, Rev. J. c. Hull.
preached from Psalm ixv.,2, a sermon
very appropriate to the occasion. 1t
was full of rejoicing and thank
fulness for the bounteous blessings
bestowed upon US. The following is
a short synopsis or the excellent dis
course:
Agriculture was among the first
of industries, and today holds a first
place among those which make up
the happiness and prosperity of a
people. Statistics have been gath
cred from 1874 great iamines in the
worlds history, and from them we
see how much of suffering and dis
tress and how great the loss of life
when the fields and country have
failed to yield their supplies. While
it may be that in our time and
country famine is impossible. still
there are depressions and discour-
age;nents from the shortening of
crops so that a very fruitful year
like the present is an occasion of re-
joicing.
Last year the "ra-n-makers'' OPP
Grated, and we know the result They
operated in Texas, in Kansas, in Ne
braska, in the Dakotas, in Mime
sofa, in Illinois. They operated till
the country dried up. And now the
'rain-makers'' themselves seem to
have dried up! At the opening of this
season there was general anxiety
Even a st. Paul daily paper sug-
gested early last spring that every
body should pray for rain. In South
Dakota a Sunday was set apart for
prayer for rain. Down in Texas Mr..
Moody at a great tabernacle meeting
prayed for rain. 1 co not mean to
argue that rain may be had at any
time in response 20 prayer. That
would make prayer commercial com
modify; and it was never intended
for that. But I mean to say that
the proper attitude for us at the
opening of any season is nat of de-
vout looking toward the Creator and
governor of all Things, nd at the
closing Of such an abundant harvest
as the present, is that of thanks
giving for the blessings received
This year, to use the vague and
meaningless form of common English,
it has rair ed; it mas been good year
But TO use the more intelligent and
beautiful language which expresses
the fact, the Lord has Numbered in
the heavens; and the Most High has
sent showers to water me earth.
light this morning. and with the flash
ing rays of light sped across our
country, what a scene would have
been unveiled before lis. Slirting the
Atlantic from Maine southwark to the
gulf, and westward UP the Pacific, or
chards bending with iipened fruit In
the Northwest, wheat fields glistening
like the gold they represent; while in
no Of no Wi
be seen what is practically a continu-
GUS corn field 600 miles i'll length, and
from 300 to 800 miles in breadth. From
Ohio, where it has been shortened a
little by drouth, westward to Kansas,
where its splendor eliminates with the
assured yield of 400, 100000 BUSH
els for that state alone, this
mighty sea of silk and bloom but en-
phasizeis the occasion of today's
thanksgiving.
We should render thanksgiving fol
the fact that we have reached a
time when no able-bodied man needs
to go without employment. Our streets
have been torn up and obstructed all
summer from paving, building and
other improvements; but I have
scarcely heard a word of complaint
climbed over and gone around and pa
tiently gotten along-everybody glad
that there is something for the work
men to do.
Yet, after all the conditions of pros
perity, we must remember that we do
not live by bread alone. 1t is pleas
ant to rejoice in the midst of such
abundance as this year brings rhe
II Oh ha le,.
the Passover came at the beginning
of harvest. Penteccst when it was
practically done; and the feast Of the
tabernacles at the close of the year
when all the products of the soil were
gathered. Our rejoicing today CORE
spends to Pentecost. Later in the year
we shall have our greater displays
and more formal thanksgivings; but
today as we observe the time of Pen
tecost, let US seek something of the
power of that great historic Pentecost
which gave the church its birth.