Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1897-12-02

u1t1OnS, necessary TO nuIudu napp1-
ness and progress; this is none the
less true of gratitude.
do not know that it would be
true to say that ingratitude is a nat
ural attribute of the human heart,
but the observation, if not the expe-
rience of all of you will bear me out
in saying that, in our present condi-
ton, it is not an uncommon charac-
teristic of the human soul. We are
largely the creatures of education,
aid among the desirable things to
learn, none is of more Importance
than that of gratitude This is one
of the most beautiful and lovely of
human virtues, as ingratitude is one
IF the ugiest and most unlovely of
human vices.
When we go out on one of our
country roads and behold the hill
sides all glorious with green and sill
yer and gold and scarlet, our hearts
must be dead indeed not to feel, to
some extent at least, the STRINGS of
the emotions of gratitude. In the
spring time, after a cold and dreary
winter, when the tree and shrub are
budding into leaf, and from every
nook OF yard and forest gentle flow
ers are smiling ou us, we must for
an instant at least know what it is
| to be grateful. When, after a spell
OF bad weather, and the sombre
clouds have for days, perhaps weeks,
hung like q pail over the earth,
suddenly the sun pierces the gloom
and foods our hearts and all around
US with the brightness of its cheer, we
cannot help, for moment at least,
lifting up our hearts in gratitude.
When we read Of India, of the dried
up rivers, the parched and cracked
earth, the withered and dried herb
age, of the starving millions; and
| then look over this fair land of ours,
with its magnificent rivers. it's bab-
bling brooks, it's gurgling springs,
its pralries burdened with wheat
and corn, it's fields white with cot
ton, its granaries and wharves filed
to overfiowing, and all gorgeous with
the glories of autumn, if our hearts
are not stone, they must swell with
gratitude for the blessings that are
around US.
! But to whom are we grateful9 To
the forest, for it's glories2 To the
flowers, for their beauty and fra
grance? To the sun, for it's bright
ness? To the land, for it's plenty?
Or to God, the maker of them and
US? Let US hope that, in some
dim way, behind these material
things, that are seen and that per-
l1sheth, the worst of us, at times,
beholdeth Him, who is unseen, but
is eternal. But it is not these sud
| II of 40
that are to bring gladness into our
hearts and blessings to our homes
and lives
We must learn being grateful as a
duty, and exercise it as pastime,
if we would experience it as a pleas
l1re and blessing.
In the very twilight of human his
tory we behold Abel rendering a
Ithank-offering to God, and ,'by it he
being dead yet speaketh" We are
here to-day, in some humble way, to
initiate the example of Abel, and let
US cherish the hope that the act may
not be unfruitful of good, not only
upon our own lives, but upon the
lives of future generations, that by
1t when we are dead we may yet
lspeak.
i Fourteen hundred and ninety
years before Christ we see Moses
prescribing the rules for offerings
for Thanksgiving. Four hundred
years later we hear the psalmist e1-
claim ENTER into His gates with
Thanksgiving and into His courts
with praise; be thankful unto Him
and bless His name, for the Lord is
good; His mercy is everlasting, and
His truth endureth to all genera
tions"
, A thousand years later on we see
Christ giving thanks just before His
coming death
And in Revelations, when it was
vouchsafed to John to project him
self into eternity, he heard Blessing
and glory, and wisdom, and thanks
giving, and honor, and power, and
might be unto our God forever ano
ever!''
Thus it will be seen that thanks
giving, as a duty and condition te
happiness, runs like a golden threao
. through the whole human story, an6